Arezue: Desire
by SakuraSyaoran4eva
Summary: Angel's human life was spent whoring and drinking. What if he'd ended up with a daughter? Her name's Arezue and she's really an awful, mean, sometimes sweet vampire. After 100 years of avoiding him as a result of her cursed soul she's come to him for help
1. The Message

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the content of this fic.

* * *

We all know that Angel, or Liam, was pretty much a man-whore in his time – and they had no anti-conceptions back then. What if Angel had had a daughter – one he'd also vamped and one whom had had a soul forced upon her as well?

Angel trudged into the Hyperion with Gunn; dripping with demon gore, scowl firmly fixed on his face.

"Oh Angelllll!" Cordelia's voice filtered through the hotel. Angel winced and moved into the lobby.

"Cordelia!" He snapped. "You don't need to yell." She set down the book she was holding with a 'thump' and turned on him, glare in full swing.

"Well excuse me if I thought it'd be nice to tell you that you received a message!" She turned away, crossing her arms. Angel sighed, feeling guilty. How was it that she always knew how to get him to apologize?

"I'm sorry Cordelia." He waved his battle-axe around. "I've just been feeling a little off lately." Cordelia immediately swung around, grinning ear to ear.

"Oh my god Angel – a girl called" She jumped up and down on her toes. "Now we all know you're not a eunuch!" Angel blinked. What the hell?

"Oh yes, Angel," Wesley piped up from his reading. "A call from a girl definitely places you in the sexually active category." His voice dripped with sarcasm. Fred pulled on his arm, appearing out of nowhere.

"I think she's Irish." She babbled, giggling. "Her voice was real nice and really low," She frowned. " 'Cept she did call you daddy once which is kinda kinky one supposes and - " She was cut off by a groan from Cordelia and coughing from Wesley.

"Fred – I don't want to know **that**," Cordelia gagged. "I mean hello! Ick!" She shuddered for a moment. "Here, listen for yourself." She pushed the play button on the recorder.

"Hey," A soft, Irish voice started. "Um – it's me. I mean, Arezue. Daddy – Angel, I kind of need your help for something –" there was static. "We need to talk and um - "

"She keeps stopping the whole way through," Cordelia told him. "It's very annoying." Angel didn't reply. He knew exactly who the girl was.

"I'll just call you later. It's really important. I'm in LA by the way." There was more static. "This place doesn't have the best connection so I'll call you later. Er – bye da - Angel." There was a click.

"So?" Cordelia demanded. Angel blinked.

"Cordelia, that's disgusting." He rubbed his arms. "That you thought that Arezue - " He broke off eyes widening as his brain presented images of – Oh God!

"Why?" Fred asked. "Angel, you really should give someone the chance to -"

"Fred!" Both Wesley and Angel cut her off. They glanced at each other and Angel realized that Wesley knew exactly who'd called – he had been a watcher after all.

"Fred, that's my daughter you're talking about," He paused for a moment, still trying to get what Cordelia'd said about him and – crap, he had to stop thinking about it. "And I rather you just didn't." Gunn stopped putting away the weapons and turned to him.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say – huh?" Angel sighed.

"Just ask Wesley." Exiting, he frowned as he walked up the steps. He'd been sensing things all week and now it all made sense. And Charlotte Jane (her real name) had mentioned needing help – what could make her desperate enough to turn to him? After all they'd spent the last hundred years or so avoiding each other – why break that kind of relationship now?

Questions running through his head, he turned in, knowing he'd probably never get any sleep until he had the answers.

* * *

BTW, Charlotte Jane is her real name - like Angel's was Liam.

SS4EVA


	2. Just Agonizing

Arezue sat on the bed, knees drawn up to her chest. She'd called him today. She'd actually called the man she' d sworn she'd never so much as talk to again.

But she needed his help. He probably wouldn't come through for her though – he never had in the past. Sure, there were those few occasions, but those seemed to occur only when he didn't have some leggy whore to keep him occupied.

Her father. Her sire. What a laugh. She struggled to keep from crying. He'd treated her like crap her entire existence, getting drunk and telling her what a mistake he'd been. He wouldn't have even bothered to give her another glance if his parents hadn't forced him to. He hadn't been that bad to her after he'd vamped her – but the moment they'd been cursed, his hatred of her had seemed to return in full swing.

Then he'd left her. He'd left her in the streets of Romania to dust – if Darla and Spike hadn't taken care of her – she probably would be dust now. She reached over to the dressing table and pulled an old worn picture out of her purse. Angelus had insisted they get a family portrait done the minute photographs had come out.

Angelus, Darla, Penn, Drusilla, William and herself draped on a couch. She remembered – Penn had come back, asking for forgiveness, and Angelus had figured that Spike, William back then, might learn something from the older vampire. It had been one of their better years.

A tear slipped down her face as she ran her fingers over the Angel's face. She smiled at the distant memory of the way he'd pulled her into his lap and kissed her. He'd cared about her then – not loved – she wasn't too sure about the love thing – or at least the demon in him had cared her – if that made any sense at all.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to face the phone. She would have to leave this place soon – she couldn't be too careful with them following her and all. She should call him now. And it wasn't like he'd be asleep at this time – it was only 2:00 and no vampire would be asleep at this time. Soul or no soul – she'd accepted herself as a vampire a long time ago.

Shaking the thoughts from her head, she picked up the phone and began to dial. Hopefully he'd be home this time.

SS4EVA


	3. An Actual Conversation

Arezue's about fifteen in human years. Angel was about 28 when he died, so he would've had her when he was around thirteen.

* * *

"Honestly Angel," Chided Cordelia, dusting the plants in the office. "I told you to chop off the demon's right hand – not put it on fire." Angel blinked.

"Huh?" What the hell was she talking about?

- Ring Ring - And what was that ringing noise he kept hearing?

"And don't you forget to take the cow out for a walk." Cow?

Ring Ring - He blinked, confused.

And you're going to get your tux dry cleaned for the wedding, right?" Cordelia went on. "For Gunn and Wesley's wedding?"

Ring Ring -

Gasping, Angel shot up in bed. What the hell – the phone was ringing. That was the noise.

"Ah – hello?" He buried his head back in the pillow. He was so tired…and the thought of Wesley and Gunn together vaguely disgusted him.

"Hello…" His eyes shot open at the sound of the familiar voice. It was her – Charlotte Jane – Arezue. "It's me."

"Uh, hi." What was he supposed to say? "How are you?"

"Fine." There was an abrupt pause. "I need your help." Her voice was tense and low enough so that if he didn't have vampire hearing he wouldn't have heard at all.

"Is there someone there with you?" There was shuffling on the other end.

"Uh, Yeah. Jack or Jason or something." There was a pause. "Just some guy." He shrugged, even though he knew she couldn't see it. They both knew that she was implying that it was none of his business and that she had no say in what she did.

'Or who she did.' Angel thought, but didn't say. He sighed.

"Charlotte Jane, I - ". He started, but was cut off.

"Arezue, it's Arezue." He gritted his teeth. Now she was pretty much saying that he didn't have a right to call her by her actual name. He scowled.

"I am not going to call you desire." He snapped angrily into the phone. 'Dammit! She is so infuriating.'

"It only means that in Arabic and a few other languages!" She snapped back at him, her voice rising. "And you don't call Spike William, do you? And nobody calls you Liam, do they?" He gritted his teeth.

'Why did I turn her again? I wish I'd just eaten her!' He thought, and then felt bad – she was technically his daughter. 'Or just tortured her a little until she became less annoying.'

"And what is up with you and Spike?" He asked, and then thought about it. "Wait, I honestly don't want you to answer that." There was a groan from the other side.

"Why can't you just accept the fact that Spike was my first real boyfriend and get it over with?" He could tell she was annoyed.

"I am not going to – Ugh!" He rolled his eyes heavenward. "I can't even say it, the thought is so disgusting."

"I walked in on you two making out – don't you think that was gross?" Arezue shot back. He knew she was still mad about that. He honestly hoped his relationship with Spike had been the reason the two'd broke up.

"Charlotte Jane - " He started, but she cut him off again.

"I hate that name." He ignored her answer. "And I bet Spike liked being with me more then you!"

"I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you." Angel told her, rolling his eyes at her childishness. "And by the way, I'd win that bet." There's a sigh from her.

"Fine, you'd win." There's defeat in her voice – which of course makes him feel bad. "Look, I wouldn't call you if I didn't really need your help. Please…" There's desperation. Angel sighed.

"I'm sorry." It's hard to say. 'I wonder if being the worst father ever is enough to damn you.' He mused, disconcertedly. There's a 'whatever' from the other side. Then suddenly he gets it.

She doesn't care how many times he apologizes – to her he's just being "daddy" all over again. And it hurts - to think that she's not even going to give him a chance to prove to her that he's changed.

"Angel," Why can't she just call him dad? His hands form fists but he says nothing. "I have to go – "There's shuffling on the other side. "Um – can we meet somewhere?" Her voice sounds frantic.

"Uh sure…" He frowned. "Why again?" He realizes how uncaring it sounds the moment he says it. "I mean, what's the problem – you never told me." There's a thud from the other side and some more shuffling.

"Look I can't talk about it right now – " Her speech is rushed, there's static on the other side. " We have to meet up as soon as possible." She lowers her voice. "And I'm pretty sure the phone's tapped." Her voice sounds strangely uncomfortable. "I really need your help, please." It comes out strangled and he isn't really surprised. It's probably very humiliating for her to have to turn to him for help after everything that's happened between them.

"Okay." Angel says, running his fingers through his hair. "Tomorrow." He gives her the address for the Hyperion. "When will you – " He starts but she cuts him off abruptly.

"Whenever I can." There's a pause. "I don't really know when I can get out without being spotted." He blinked – spotted by whom? But before he can ask, she's already talking.

"I really have to go – and thank you." 'Thank you', the words are simple but they hurt. He might have ignored her for the last few decades, but that doesn't mean he doesn't care at all.

"Sure," He has nothing else to say. "See you."

"Bye." He doesn't hang up and wonders if she has – but there's no 'click'.

"Charlotte Jane?" He finally asks, hesitating.

"Yeah?" Her voice is blank, as if she too has no idea what to say. He decides to just come out and say it.

"You do know that I love you, right?" There's a gasp and a strangled sob from the other side before the line goes dead. Angel hangs up, wondering if he's done the right thing or just managed to alienate her even more.

"I won't screw up this time." He vows. "I'll prove that I can be a good father – that I've changed." He groans at this sudden thought.

"Great, now I'm going to spend all night trying to come up with ways to do that." Shaking his head, he reaches over and turns the light off.

SS4EVA


	4. Sweet Torture

Arezue: Desire

"You do know I'll always love you, right?" The simple yet powerful words echoed in the hollowed air around her as tears streamed down her face. She didn't dare wipe them away; doing such a thing would mean admitting that he could still cause her pain. It would mean admitting that after all this time Angelus hadn't lost his touch.

Sweet Torture. That's what it was. People said that Angelus had managed to achieve perfection through torture. That wasn't really true. He'd taken torture to new heights. After all, she – of all people – ought to know. Angelus. Angel. He knew just how to get under your skin. Just how to make you want to admit that you needed him.

And she wanted to. Even though she was 224 years old, there was still the little girl trapped inside, the fledgling, that wanted to believe that her father, her sire, would make everything all right. Fix it all up.

"But he won't." She whispered softly. "He'll just sweep in, treat me like crap for a while, make me beg him to stay and then…leeaveee…" She trailed off in a hiss of pain as some of the wax from the flickering blood red candle clenched in her fingers found its way on to her bare thigh. She glanced over at…Jason? Or maybe it was Jack?

Whatever his name was probably wouldn't even remember her in the morning. Or he might. It didn't really matter, she'd already forgotten about the events that had transpired a few hours ago in the room she sat hunched up in, phone and burning candle clenched in hand, pain in her ice-blue orbs. The only reason she had to support her hope that he wouldn't remember was the inquiry that would undoubtedly take place after she was gone. He'd probably wake with a massive hangover and be unable to place her or the past few hours of his human life.

Not that she cared. She never had. She pondered the thought of actually caring as she glanced around the room. She'd made as big as a mess as possible during her phone call. She wanted to make sure that nobody'd be able to find a shred of evidence that she'd been here. Although…her scent was plastered all over the room. She smirked to herself at this. It would probably drive them nuts, being able to smell her but not find her.

And she knew they'd come searching for her; they had been trailing her for the last two months or so. But she wasn't going to give in to them. She refused to let them, him, win without a fight. She just couldn't.

Getting up, she pulled her black and red leather dress back on. It would probably get her a few looks wherever she went, but that was all right, she liked the attention. Negative attention was always better then no attention at all. She glanced around for her underclothes but quickly gathered that blondie had snatched them earlier. She shrugged.

"He might as well get something for his trouble." She grabbed her black Gucci purse, slipping the wax candle in just as somebody started bagging on the door.

"Open up!" A growl. "Open up, we know you're in there." She smirked at the itching familiarity of the words. World War II. Germany…they had had so much fun…the words just pulled her back to the time and all else that she could not have.

Spotting the window ledge (about seven feet high in the air, this brothel sure sucked), she took in a gust of unneeded oxygen and catapulted herself towards it.

"We **will** get you - and you will be punished for making our master wait!" The thuds on the door became even more instantaneous and Arezue began to climb out. She deftly toyed with the idea of sticking around to drive them even more batty (no pun intended) when she ran off.

Just as she stepped out on the ledge, about 40 meters high in the air, the door came down with a thud. She seized the dome on the building and tried to keep from making noise. If she tilted her head a little to the right she could see inside…

An entire horde of vampires, demons, and the ever so spontaneous goblin, tumbled into the room. The head vampire, she was pretty sure his name was Grommbulk (she'd seen him serving her lover, ex-lover, at times in court), looked around and let out a massive growl, face shifting into demonic mode, fangs flashing in the darkness, nose trying to sniff her out.

"She has evaded us again!" She smirked at this. "Oh, what's this?" He'd obviously spotted the blonde on the bed. Ever since Spike had gone blonde, she'd only dated blondes…why was that?

Pondering the question, she glanced back in the room. Grommbulk was hauling Jared (yeah, that must be his name) up by the ear. Jared was still, weirdly enough, out of it.

"Torture!" One of the gremlins crowed out, clearly enthused by the idea. The rest of the horde seemed to agree and the head vampire smiled.

"Yessss, torture." He drawled, his Transylvanian accent seeping through. "Then he'll spill every drop he has," He paused. "Get it, spill – drop?" None of the other demons seemed to find his pun very funny. He rolled his eyes and tossed the blonde to a purple demon with very large claws. "Start already!"

Grommbulk started to ransack the mess of a room, trying to find some clue as to where she was. Arezue spun around to face the city and realized she was still forty feet up in the air.

"Oh crap." She stated, awed at all the lights. It was like New York City during Christmastime or at least a New York City Christmas back in 1922. She smile down at the streets below, wondered whether some guy would sweep in and catch her like in the movies and then - she jumped.


	5. Getting Soaked

Arezue; Desire

Landing on the ground with a crunch, Arezue winced – her rib cage was broken. It would heal in a couple of hours, but it still hurt. A man of about seventy-five stood near the wall of the ally, leering at her. Scowling at him, she grabbed his neck and bit down as he screamed. When the coppery liquid properly sated her, she dropped him to the floor. He was only unconscious, the soul kept her from killing upon whim. It wasn't that the killing bought her guilt – it was just that she had this thing, telling her it was wrong. She usually ignored it but sometimes it was just too loud.

Utterly disgusted, Arezue ran through the LA streets, the rain dripping through her clothes and soaking her down to her bones. She couldn't quite really feel differences in temperature (which was a good thing, considering it was December and she was wearing nothing but a skimpy dress) but she could feel the wind and it was getting definitely on her nerves. The rain also made it impossible for her to see more then two feet in front of her face.

"Dammit!" She swore under her breath, slowing down and pushing hair out of her face. Her 18th century bun had somehow come undone and now her wavy honey blonde waist length hair was getting on her nerves. She spotted her black hair ribbon and a few hairpins in the mud.

She glanced around and surmised that she had to get out of the rain. Sunrise would be soon and she certainly couldn't go into any demon bars – his entrouge would be searching for her in such places. She sighed, this meant…

'Only one option left.' Reaching into her purse, she pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and smoothed it down – Angel's address. He'd probably be shocked to see her so soon – but it wasn't as if she cared what her father thought. At this point in her life, he really held no significance – other then being a really annoying cockroach that sent her birthday cards every few years. He had given up his sire rights when he'd ditched her.

"Well," She sighed in defeat. "Looks like it's time to give Daddy a little surprise." Smirking as she imagined the look on his face – guilt, annoyance and maybe a little panic – she took off. There was only another hour left before the dreaded sun rose and extinguished all her kind until sundown.

SS4EVA


	6. Wesley and the Turning

Arezue; Desire

* * *

-Knock Knock-

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce jerked awake abruptly and glanced around, confusedly searching for the source of the sound that had awaken him from his – paperwork? Yes, he was supposed to have done paperwork and gone home. But that was hours ago and – something had awoken him.

Knock knock -

Somebody was at the door. 'Let them knock' Wesley thought rubbing his eyes drowsily. Deciding he better let whomever it was in; he glanced up and froze.

While he'd been rubbing his eyes the source of the noise had walked in and was now attempting to dry off her very wet clothes that clung to her every curve like – eyes widening Wesley chided himself for thinking such things.

Just because his recent experiences with the Shanshu prophecy, Connor and nearly everything else had hardened him to the world didn't mean he was now a man who could think such vulgar thought without feeling guilt.

He looked back up at the girl and blinked twice to make sure he wasn't still asleep. He was pretty sure he had never seen a sight to rival this one – gorgeous didn't seem to describe her – and he honestly couldn't think of a word that did. He gaped as she began to walk over to him. He managed to dimly realize that she was a vampire by the way she walked and held her gaze on his throat a bit longer than necessary.

"Hey," She stated, stonily staring at him, her gaze unwavering. He blinked and straightened up abruptly.

"Hello." He glanced towards the weapons cabinet, gauging that she'd be able to snap his neck long before he even managed to get past her. The entire time he tried to figure out how to kill her – he'd left all the stakes he'd had in the office – he knew full well that there was no way he'd ever be able to hurt such a creature. "How may I help you?" He asked as a way of stalling more than anything else.

"Angel here?" She asked, glancing around the hotel, her eyes lingering on the weapons cabinet as if she knew what was inside. Wesley managed to nod, his mind busily comparing her voice to cherry blossoms and honeysuckle.

"Oh – err –yes," The ex-watcher quickly tried to figure out whether she was to be eliminated by him or Angel. Perhaps she was an old friend? It seemed unlikely but Wesley was, in actuality, not prepared to hurt the honey blonde in any thinkable way. "He's asleep at the moment though." This for some reason elicited a raised eyebrow from the vampires standing in front of him. He supposed it made sense – what kind of vampire slept at night?

"If you could just point me in the direction of his room, or maybe give me a room number…" Arezue trailed off, staring at him inquisitively. Wesley ran his fingers through his hair, realizing that he must look horribly disheveled at the moment.

"Of course." He said, blinking a few times in succession to try to rouse himself from his drowsy state. Something suddenly occurred to him. "You wouldn't, by any chance be Arezue – Angel's daughter?" She smirked at him, running her tongue over her lips flirtatiously, smoothing down her still wet dress. He started to look away and froze; it was kind obvious be the way the rain was making the material of the dress cling to her body that she wasn't wearing a bra.

'She's Angel's daughter…' Wesley realized slowly. 'Angel will kill me if he finds out that I – of all people - feel for his daughter'. Trying to get the fantasies involving her out of his head he starred at her.

"Are you all right?" She asked, peering at him with an unconcerned expression through her half closed eyelids. She yawned and it occurred to him that she might be tired. He followed her eyes as they ran up and down his body and nearly everything else in the hotel…

"Are you alright?" Arezue waved her hand in front of Wesley's face; he seemed to snap out of his stupor almost instantly.

"Blue!" He gasped out. She stared at him, confused.

"Is that what people say nowadays to indicate that they're all right or – " He cut her off before she could finish her question.

"No." He said slowly, seemingly amused at her expense. " I was just – " He stared a her for a beat. "Your eyes, they're blue but at the same time they're a little white and a little green…" He trailed off, watching her silently – just the way that…

"William…" Arezue slowly breathed out, too softly for him to pick up.

New England, 1837

Arezue wandered through the English streets. The sunrise would be soon yet she seemed to be searching for something.

"Why in heavens is it that I always seem to be the one who is picked for childe-sitting duty?" She muttered under her breath, annoyed at yet another one of Drusilla's disappearances. She sniffed the air, seeking out traces of Drusilla's unique scent in the fresh air.

"Left." She headed in the direction, following the smell of true innocence clashing with anguish that vibrated off the London streets in waves.

"A stable." She spat out angrily with disbelief. "Of all the places in this damned world – She has to – aghh!" She shot the leering men in the alley who were looking at if she, not them, were the prey nasty looks.

"My skirts will become encrusted with mud and filth and then, of course, Darla will throw a fit and Angelus will both be angry!" Glaring at the bound-to-be-filthy barn with anger, she picked up her skirts and walked inside.

Drusilla sat at the knees of a young man, probably in his early twenties, an adoring look on her childlike features whispering something about his wealth and his heart into his ear.

"Drusilla!" Arezue called. "Get out of that dirt this ins – " Gasping in surprise, she froze as his crystal blue eyes turned to look at her. The most gorgeous man she'd ever seen was gazing at her through the most gorgeous eyes she'd ever seen.

"Miss," He said by way of greeting, his voice a bit shaken. "I think this woman is a bit 'out there', " He tried to explain. "If you know what I mean…" He shook his head suddenly, apologetically. "Not that I'm meaning to be disrespectful or anything, I just – " He broke off, not knowing how to explain his case properly.

Arezue burst out laughing, shaking her head at the naïve man. He was so adorable and – innocent!

"Oh no, my dear. She's much more then a 'bit out there'." He gave her a blank look and she continued to laugh at his expense.

"I think," He said slowly, giving her an odd look. "You and she may both be a little similar in that sense, my lady." He turned back to Drusilla.

"I do not mean to be bold, wretched or disrespectful miss, but I do say you are very beautiful." He seemed to be afraid of admitting his thoughts to the two women. Drusilla gasped at this, obviously awestruck by the man for some reason.

"But my – "He continued and then broke himself off. He took a deep breath as if preparing himself. "I don't believe a Christian man ought to encourage prostitution." Now that he'd said it, the man obviously thought the two woman would leave him to finish crying as he had been according to the tell-tale tear marks on his face, Arezue mused.

Arezue raised an eyebrow at the man. He was surely a gem…

"What's your name?" She inquired of him, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"William!" Drusilla exclaimed causing the man's as well as Arezue's eyes widen in shock. William was the name of the … in the … Oh! It couldn't be so. Arezue finally decided. It was just a simple coincidence.

"I didn't tell her that!" The blue-eyed, golden brown curled man cried in surprise. "I swear I didn't." He seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown. He stared at the two so-called prostitutes. "If you'd like money – " He started, wanting to get away as soon as possible but Arezue cut him off.

"No." Her voice was soft as the beginning of a storm or hurricane usually is. "William, I don't quite know what Drusilla wants but I, for one, would like must more then your money." She caressed his face slowly.

"I'd like you." He stared in shock at this, apparently confused at what she could dare mean by such a thing. Then realization sparked in his eyes.

"You mean to kill me." His voice was not at all fearful as most peoples would be. He seemed rather exited and expecting…

Arezue burst out laughing – sounding genuinely pleased at his words – shaking her head at him. "You do beat all, William."

She leaned in closer, her fingers gradually finding their way under his shirt. "I want to give you eternity – let you live forever…" She let the sentence hang and William's excitement seemed to deflate at this.

"I just want to die." He stated miserably. Arezue sighed, dropping down next to him on the bench he sat on.

"Oh darling, you will." His ears seemed to perk up at this. "We'll kill you," Both Drusilla's and Arezue's faces shifted to those of hell demon. "Like us."

She expected him to scream, to flee, to cower, and to recite the lord's word yet he didn't. He sat up straighter, his eyes glazed over with passion and excitement.

"Oh…" He gasped out. "It's so – effulgent." He breathed out and Arezue smiled.

"Promise." She whispered into his ear, leaning in as Drusilla anxiously watched, starting to lower her fangs. "Promise me that you'll never forget that your wealth," She moved her hand over his still beating heart. "Lies in your heart." His eyes widened and he gasped out his promise as both women bit down.

"Effulgent…" He whispered as his last breath escaped his mouth and into her neck. It was the last word William the bloody would speak while still alive.

"Arezue? Charlotte Jane?" She snapped back to the present to see Wesley Wyndam Pryce, ex-rogue demon hunter waving his hand in front of her face.

"How did you know – " She began, echoing William's words from that night.

"I used to work for the watcher's council." He answered bluntly. Arezue raised an eyebrow at this new piece of information.

"You're an ex-watcher?" The man seemed to deflate a little at this.

"Yes." She nodded at him, noticing how sexy his unshaven look made him.

"You know," She whispered suddenly, pressing her body enticingly against his. His hardness apparent through the leather pants he wore. "Most of the watcher's I've met in my tome seem to have a thing for older women…" His eyes widened at her come-on.

"Ohh…" He whispered, now clenching his eyes shut. She ran her teeth along his jugular vein. He knew she could feel his state of arousal through his pants the way her body was plastered on his. The thought of her biting him was suddenly very stimulating.

Suddenly, without warning, she pulled away.

"So, I'm guessing Sir. Brood-a lot's room is on the top floor?" She walked away from him as though nothing had happened, towards the stairs. "He just has to have the grandest view possible." She rolled her eyes, bounding up the stairs.

Wesley Wyndam Pryce, ex-watcher, watched her go, his mouth hanging open, unable to process a single thought.

SS4EVA


	7. Lilah Morgan Interlude

Arezue; Desire

Lilah Morgan; An Interlude

* * *

Lilah Morgan walked up the company stairs to her office, perfectly balanced on the tips of her new designer red Prada heels. She walked fast yet composedly slow.

That was the trick, wasn't it? Working hard, giving it your all – yet acting like you were just tanning at the beach, sipping Italian wine. It was all just a matter of image – a facade of what everyone else wanted.

Lilah mused along the lines of such philosophical thoughts as she sent her fellow workers scathing looks.

Walking into her office, Lilah pulled out the latest briefing as to Angel's activities and smiled. It was a cold expressionless ice shattering smile, but a smile nevertheless.

Charlotte Jane O'Connor, otherwise know as Arezue, Arabic for desire. Born out of wedlock to Liam O'Connor and a prostitute (Charlotte Janette, a nineteen year old French slave) at a local brothel in Galway, Ireland in 1961. A seventy-five pound vampire, seemingly fifteen in human years, ex-consort to William the Bloody, 1/5 the scourge of Europe. Cursed with a soul in Romania circa late 1800's early 1900's.

"The daughter of a prostitute born out of wedlock to a catholic man…" Mused the lawyer out loud. "How poetic." She tapped the desk with her $425 French manicure carelessly.

"Can't see that sitting well with all the religious society back then." She flipped through the stack of papers. "Poor child; must have had such a hard life…she probably has so much unhealthy rage built up against Daddy – just waiting to spill out. " Her words made it seem as if she felt pity for the damned murderess in question, but anyone who was even a mere acquaintance of the Wolfram & Hart employee knew better.

No. Lilah Morgan did not ever feel pity or any such feeling at all. She felt ambition; Ambition was the thing that pushed the lawyer to be, to survive – to plot. Plotting was one of the things that went hand-in-hand with Lilah Morgan.

Lilah was the kind of person that plotted in her sleep.

And now, sitting in her office chair, her hair perfectly styled, her eyes malicious and cold, Lilah Morgan, lawyer with Wolfram & Hart, plotted with a certain honey blonde in mind.

SS4EVA


	8. Premonitions and Daddy

Arezue; Desire

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce walked Arezue up to Angel's room, silence stretching out between the two of them. Wesley was too caught up in admiring the way her hair sparkled in the limelight, like caramel and honey mixed together, to say much. And Arezue was just taking in her surroundings.

The ex-watcher was actually quite confused. He didn't understand. He'd just met her – if you could even call it that – less then five minutes ago and – there was just this thing…that he felt – towards her. He'd never been one to believe too much in the whole 'love' theory. That it just happened without warning. But yet he was here. And she was here. And there was something in his heart that he just – felt…

Pulling himself out of his brain's wanderings, he turned to face the – could he even call her a woman? She was, looked about, fifteen, sixteen tops. And what was this feeling inside of him?

"We're here." He finally managed to state. He hated to spoil the silence. He just wanted to spend all of eternity just watching her, yet he knew that all things came to an end – and he wasn't going to try to fool himself into thinking that there could ever be anything between the two of them.

He knew that this was probably as close as he would ever get to the divine goddess now looking at him deviously. He knew that she wasn't perfect; that she certainly wasn't the most beautiful thing in existence and that she was nothing more than the ensouled version of a monster just waiting to come out. He'd read all the books and biographies on her. He'd referred to her as a veiled monster many times in his works as a watcher but – this was now.

And he knew – even if he couldn't wrap his mind around it, that he was in love; she might just snap his neck in a matter of seconds, but he loved her.

Arezue watched the English man silently. He just seemed to stand there; his eyes far away. She set her jaw. Who did he think he was? She was Arezue; scourge of Europe for goodness' sake. And he had the decency to just stand there and ignore her.

Fuming, she tried to come up with ways to torture him. Then an idea struck her; she'd read him. Find out his biggest fear and use it against him. She was a monster and he would know it.

She placed her right palm on top of his chest, right above his heart and smirked. This was going to be so much fun.

-Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, that was his name. -"You're a worthless little brat! You'll never amount to anything!" - His father; a monster in his own right. So much fear – of failure. Self-worthlessness – he feared that too.-

-" A watcher? You?" Laughter. -"You listen up, boy. And you listen up good – you will never be a watcher!" -Anguish- "I'm disgusted at the thought of actually admitting to someone that you are my son. Watcher, indeed!"-

-"Hey Wesley! You're supposed to be my watcher? Oh, Please!" -Buffy, Faith – slayers; he'd failed them.- So much pain. The desire to prove himself.-

-"You're fired Wyndam-Pryce." -Quentin Travers. -He was such a failure.-

-Angel; the ensouled vampire. -Angel Investigations.- "I don't envy you Angel. You walk a fine line."- Respect, yet fear. -He feared – Angelus-

-Love. -So much love -He was so afraid…she would reject him and he would… so much love-

Gasping, Arezue pulled away. Her eyes widened in shock. Wesley was watching her worriedly.

"Oh my – are you alright?" She just stared at him. She hadn't felt such love since the night she'd been damned. Sure, she knew it existed. She had always known other people felt such things, Drusilla, William, but she had never – not since her death.

Oh god! She was going to throw up. She felt disgust. Towards him, the world, herself… She was a monster for Pete's sake.

Realizing that the ex-watcher was still watching her, she managed to choke out that she was fine. She watched him as he nodded, her eyes full of confusion. How could she live and feel something that she'd christened 'love' for an eternity and still not be able to understand what the thing she'd felt for just a moment was…

"Well, alright then." Wesley lingered, not wanting to leave. Not wanting to miss anything; not that confused look on her face; the astonishment in her eyes, not the littlest smile that she might make after he was gone…not a single thing. "I guess I ought to be getting home now." Knowing he could stall no more, Wesley nodded to her and walked off.

'Something tells me he's going to be jerking himself off tonight.' Arezue thought with contempt, more to make herself feel better then to insult the Englishman. She clenched her eyes shut and leaned against the door to her father's place.

She didn't understand. How was it that he could he feel that much love and she couldn't? She'd been around for years, gone through so much…she had a soul too. So, why was it that she just couldn't?

"I hate her!" She stated angrily. There was a woman, she'd found from her premonition, who all that love was directed at. Arezue hadn't seen whom, but she hated the woman. "She probably doesn't even appreciate him."

She pushed away the feeling and straightened up. She didn't care. It didn't matter. She was Arezue and that was all that mattered.

Forcing a smirk upon her lips, she turned the doorknob to the room – effectively breaking the lock – and stepped in.

Glancing around the room she found that her father was definitely living up to her expectations. It was basically like a little (very posh) apartment. There was a living room, a kitchen, and a bedroom that she guessed was Angel's.

Forcing the door to the bedroom open, she glanced around. Black silk sheets, about twelve pillows on the just the bed, a Persian rug on the floor…his days of sewer living were obviously very much over.

"I think I'll like it here." She whispered, setting her purse on the dresser and walking to the closet.

"I hear from you three times in one night," Angel's voice drawled out, alerting her that he was awake. "Are you sure that it's not my birthday - " He paused. "Or at least father's day?" She turned around to face him, a cold smile on her face, her expression deeply guarded.

"Well, you know me," She shrugged, starting to pull off her dress. " I live to be spontaneous –" She frowned at him. "Aren't you going to at least turn around?" He raised an eyebrow at her question.

"I'm your father. Why should I turn around?" She clenched her jaw shut tightly. She hated when he used that line – when had he ever done anything fatherly? He frowned. "What happened to your underclothes?"

She rolled her eyes at his question. Who wore actual underclothes nowadays? There were no corsets or pantyhose or anything of the kind. You could walk around naked in the city and no one would care.

"It's a long story." She made a face. "What can I borrow that doesn't cost more then two hundred dollars?" Groaning, Angel clamored out of bed.

"You know," He stated, flipping through his closet. "You assume that after your death, your daughter isn't going to stumble in soaking wet and reeking to high heaven of men and alcohol in the middle of the night." Taking the sweatshirt that her father offered her, Arezue bit her tongue.

Who was he to talk? She'd spent the majority of her human life taking care of him because he'd gotten too drunk to see straight. And what about how he'd spent his entire life whoring around? At least she'd never ended up with a child…

Arezue sighed. He was still going on. Lecturing was the one thing Angel was actually good at – that and making her feel like shit.

She pulled on the sweatshirt and frowned at how it went past her knees.

"Must've shrunk in the wash…" He murmured causing her to raise her eyebrow at him.

"So," He turned to her – uncomfortable now that he couldn't play the dad card anymore. "How did you find my room?"

Arezue didn't answer. She was walking around the room, running her fingers over whatever piece caught her fancy. She looked up at him as something struck her.

"He never introduced himself." She replied coolly. Angel realized that it was more of a request than a statement.

"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce." He told her, aware that she was probably playing with him. She liked to do such things… "He's the only person I know who'd spend all night actually working." She nodded, not really listening.

For some reason she felt as if there was something between Angel and Wesley. Some unbreached tension perhaps. She'd seen Angel try to smother Wesley with a pillow in her premonition but hadn't really gotten a why.

Arezue fingered a small glass framed painting she'd spotted on the dresser.

"It's me…" She whispered slowly.

And it was. An old oil painting (probably from the early nineteen hundreds) of her lay encased in a glass heart shaped figurine.

"Yeah." He replied. She could feel her eyes burning. He had never cared about her – he'd always hated her. She knew it. So, why was it that he now felt the need to confuse her?

"It's the only picture I have of you, Char." He said. He sounded a bit sad, Arezue realized.

Angel started to put his hand on her shoulder but pulled it away when he noticed her tense up in reaction to the movement.

"You should dry off." He finally said. She nodded, deep in thought. "I'll just –" He walked off to the bathroom to get a towel, grateful to get away from his daughter.

He could now remember why he'd left her with Darla all those years ago. She was just too hard to deal with. Grabbing the towel from the rack, he walked back to her. Arezue was still on the bed where he'd left her, staring blankly at the floor.

"Thanks." She took it from him, avoiding his eyes. Drying off her hair, she looked up at him.

"So, where do I sleep?" She asked, looking more together.

His stomach lurched at the question. She wanted to stay. Here – with him. Where he lived. Where he was.

And he couldn't help but want to throw up at the mere thought of such a thing. He didn't know if he could deal with all the issues that having her around would undoubtedly bring up. There was Cordelia and Fred and Connor…

Connor….

"Aren't you going to tell me about your problem?" He finally blurted out. If he solved whatever dilemma she had, she'd leave and everything'd go back to how it had been before she'd shown up.

He could see the turmoil in her eyes as she thought of what to say in response to his question. She opened her mouth, and then closed it. She clenched her eyes shut. The thought of how low she'd fallen as to ask for his help…

"I – I'd rather talk about it later." She finally said. "Can we – tomorrow – " She looked at him and he nodded.

"Yeah, sure." He looked around, not wanting to meet her eyes. This was so uncomfortable. "Whatever."

He didn't like the silence that existed between them, the way they were both uneasy around each other. He fidgeted nervously.

"There are a lot of open rooms in the hotel." He told her. She raised an eyebrow at him. "But, uh, I bet you're going to want mine just to annoy me…" She smiled at this.

It wasn't a very genuine smile and it was a little broken, but it was still a smile of sorts.

"Saw your living room in the way in," She drawled, smirking. "the couch looks real comfy." He chuckled.

"I'm sleeping on the couch aren't I?" She replied by climbing into his bed. He turned to go.

"Um, Angel?" He looked back at her. She wasn't going to ask him to check for monsters under the bed, was she? The irony of such a thing occurring wasn't lost on him.

"Do you think you could actually put a shirt on for work in the morning?" She lit up a cigarette and he cringed as he thought of what that would do to his sheets. "I read the Englishman downstairs and he was thinking about how your secretary and some guy named Fred think it's sexy when you show up for work without a shirt."

Angel turned away so that she wouldn't see the smile on his face. She didn't want women (or men) looking at him and that was endearing…

"Good night, Charlotte Jane." There was an annoyed groan from Arezue as he flipped the light off and walked out.

"If I walk in on you and your slut of a secretary, I'm going to eat her!" She shouted after him.

The door closed and she was left alone with her thoughts; and the soul. But that was pretty much absent because of all the beer she'd consumed earlier.

"That bitch is so dead…"

SS4EVA


	9. Fred and a Shocking Discovery

Arezue; Desire

"Angel…" A voice whispered. "Angel…" Groaning, Arezue rolled over on the bed to find herself face-to-face with a frail looking brunette. The woman had only seconds to realize that she wasn't Angel before Arezue was up.

In one quick move her right hand was holding the woman up by her neck inches off the ground.

"Eeek!" The woman exclaimed, trying to squirm away.

"Charlotte Jane, are you up?" Angel's voice drifted into the room. Arezue drooped the woman on the bed, scowling in annoyance.

"I am now." She muttered under her breath, considering how it was actually nice of Angel to have breakfast delivered.

The woman was trying to get as close to the door as she could without capturing Arezue's attention. Arezue rolled her eyes at the woman.

"I'd kill you before you even moved." It wasn't really a threatening sort of statement, more like just a matter-of-fact statement. "So, you must be Angel's whore of the week."

The woman shook her head; looking as if she was scared Arezue might just eat her. Arezue smiled at this; at least the woman wasn't a total bimbo.

Arezue decided to take pity on the shaking human and quickly changed her mind about the breakfast-in bed idea.

'No sense in adding to the body count if I'm not even hungry…' She tapped the woman on the shoulder to get her attention.

"I like your shoes. Where'd you get them?" The brunette's eyes widened.

"Angel!" She screaming, scrambling as far away from what she knew for a fact was a vampire. Arezue made a face and flopped back on the bed, trying to go back to sleep.

"Just trying to keep from killing you…" It was disgusting how humans always thought they knew best. If Arezue'd been any other vamp, she'd have snapped the brunette's neck just for being so nauseatingly scared.

Angel walked into the room, toweling his wet hair off, wearing nothing but a bathrobe. He glanced at Fred and Arezue, and then did a double take.

"Fred! What are you doing up here?" Fred 'eeped' and ran to hide behind Angel. Angel sighed as he realized that all the progress Fred had made was being undone. "Fred, what is it?" Fred just pointed to Arezue in response.

"Oh." Angel sighed. "Fred, this is Arezue. Arezue – " Pulling herself up, Arezue sent him a scowl.

"Was trying to go back to sleep." Arezue shot him daggers with her eyes. He was so damn annoying!

"Oh! Oh." Fred exclaimed, realization dawning upon her. "You're Angel's daughter!" Arezue rolled her eyes upon hearing this.

"Angelus! Please tell your whore to go away!" Her voice was hostile and bitter. "And put on some clothes. I have no desire to watch live porn this early in the morning." Fred blinked in confusion as Angel, wincing, did up the buttons on his robe. Arezue buried her head back under her pillow.

"Whore?" Fred repeated. " I'm not Angel's –" She broke off, shaking her head. Angel blinked as if he'd just realized what Arezue'd just said.

"Char, she's not my –" His face was full of confusion as he backtracked over the last day or so. Had he done or said anything that might make it seem like Fred was – no…

Arezue groaned, getting up once again.

"Are you telling me you've known him for more then fifteen minutes and you haven't –" Seeing Fred shake her head again, a smile slowly made it's way onto her face.

She got on her knees and crawled over to sit next to Fred, still on the bed.

"You know," she whispered. "I think we're going to get along just fine. And you know what," She asked, laying her right palm on Fred's chest, directly above the heart. "I promise not to bite."

- X is equal to the ratio of Y when the denominator and the anomaly of the equation is quantumly equal throughout the function; only in a rectangular function, do they… -

- Knowledge -

- Feigenbaum - He's the master of Chaos, ya know. -

- I'm gonna study, Mom. I'm gonna learn every damn thing they know up there…and then figure out some stuff they don't -

- The library - curiosity - Really weird symbols…-

- Pylea - innocence -

-"Handsome man saved me from the monsters…" - A cave -

-Cordelia - Gunn - Angel's son! –

Gasping in shock, Arezue pulled away to see Fred watching her worriedly and Angel scowling.

"She's fine, Fred." HE growled angrily, pulling Fred behind him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He was angry and very much pissed off, that much Arezue was sure of.

Nevertheless, she was much too shocked too care. She'd seen a boy in her premonition – a boy that was supposedly Angel's son. It made no sense, but yet – she knew her premonitions were never wrong.

"Charlotte Jane?" Angel grabbed her roughly. "You'd better start explaining what right you think you have to delve yourself into Fred's mind like that," He cupped her chin and pulled her face to his so that they were eye to eye.

"And Charlotte Jane – it better be damn good." He searched her blank eyes with his. "Or else." Arezue's expression changed to one of anger and malice.

"Only if you tell me on one thing," She hissed through clenched teeth, Angel could see the hurt in her eyes too. "Who's Connor, Daddy?"


	10. Just Talk

Arezue; Desire

Chapter ten: Just talk

"Who's Connor, Daddy?" Angel pulled away from her as if burned. Avoiding her eyes he folded his arms over his chest.

"It's really non that important." He glanced at Fred. "Fred, isn't there some really violent monster that you want me to go kill?" His voice was hopeful. He really wanted to get the hell out of here before Charlotte Jane figured out that not only was Connor his son but that he was actually human.

"Nopez!" Fred beamed. "After you guy are done arguin', can we go get some ice cream?" She frowned. "So, why are y'all arguin'?" Arezue rolled her eyes, picking at her split ends.

"We're arguing because I get premonitions," Arezue replied evenly, keeping her eyes on Angel's face. "And Angelus here is angry he's an uptight –" She broke off, realizing that the brunette might not appreciate such language. "He's pissed off cuz I got off on you." She jumped back on the bed, crossing her feet under her.

"Who's Connor Winifred?" The woman looked shaken when she realized that Arezue'd never been told her full name but nevertheless seemed able to gather her wits about her.

"Connor's Connor silly!" She laughed and Arezue threw her a chilling glare. Women like this proved that the last two centuries had actually withered the normal human's common sense rather than adding to it.

Fred shuddered as Arezue flashed her fangs at her. She knew Angel'd never let anything happen to her but that didn't mean she wasn't scared.

"Connor is Angels son and –" She frowned. "Your brother, I guess…" She trailed off for a moment. "He's right next door if you wanna –"

"No!" Angel exclaimed, causing both heads to turn his way.

"I'd love to meet Connor." Arezue said coolly. "Can't wait to see if we have any of the same genes." She crossed over to the door, only to be stopped by an over exited Angel.

"I'll save you the trip." He said. "You both share the 'drive daddy crazy' gene. Now that your curiosity on Connor is satisfied–"

"Move." Arezue growled and Angel winced. The monster she'd evolved into really freaked him out sometimes.

"Char, honey, aren't you hungry?" He tried to steer her focus onto something else. "How about breakfast?" Arezue scowled at him crossly.

"First of all, only humans eat breakfast in the morning. Secondly, I don't drink that bagged blood crap you seem to be so hung up on." Angel looked ready to lose it when suddenly his entire face brightened.

"It's 1:30!" He exclaimed and Arezue looked at Fred.

"Is he always this –" She searched for a word. "Stupid?" Fred laughed, then seeing Angel's scowl broke off hastily.

"Well, sometimes," She paused. "D'ya wanna borrow some clothes? Angel's sweater looks real comfortable and all but I think the guys would have heart attacks if you went down like that." Arezue nodded, completely ignoring Angel who was going on and on about how he wasn't stupid.

"Sure – but first I think I'd like to meet Connor." Angel scowled at them, obviously frustrated.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you. You can't see Connor because he's at school now." Fred's lips formed an 'oh'.

"Oh yeah, musta slipped my mind." She laughed again. "He'll be back around 2:30ish." Angel immediately countered this.

"Yeah but Arezue won't be hear then. She'll be gone." Off the girls looks he went on. "We're going to solve whatever problem she has and she's gonna go – " He shrugged as he contemplated for a moment. "Anywhere that isn't here."

"You really want me to leave that badly?" Arezue asked him bitterly, clenching her jaw closed. He shrugged.

"Let me think," He pretended to ponder the question carefully. "Yes." Anger flashed in Arezue's eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere without meeting Connor, Angelus." She smirked. "And anyways, even you can't solve my problem within a matter of hours. I've tried." Angel rolled his eyes.

"We'll see." Fred glanced from one person to the other.

"Wow, there's lotta love in this room, isn't there?" She laughed but sobered up when both of them shot her annoyed looks. "Or not." She swallowed. "Um, what exactly is the problem?" Angel, not really wanting to admit he didn't know, looked at Arezue who yawned.

"You know who Dracula is?" Angel's mouth fell open comically and he began to laugh.

"Are you telling me –" More laughter. "th-that your so-called problem has to do with –" He snickered. "that idiot!" Arezue looked insulted.

"Hey! I dated him." She thought about it for a moment. "And he might be a little off, but he's not an idiot. And, um, at least he doesn't have –" She searched for a proper insult. "stupid hair!" Angel's eyes widened.

"What!" Arezue flashed him a victory sign and slipped into the bathroom. Angel turned to Fred hopefully.

"Fred, I don't have stupid hair, do I?" He ran his fingers through his hair worriedly.

"No!" Fred shook her head, trying to keep from giggling. ""Of course not. It's very – pretty." Angel gasped with something akin to horror on his face.

"Pretty!" Gauging his reaction Fred tried to explain what she meant.

"No! I meant handsome." She watched him pull out about twenty combs and winced. "Honest I did." Angel didn't reply, busily applying even more gel to is hair.

"You know what, I'm just gonna go find something for Arezue to wear." She paused. "And then I'll start the week's laundry. You need anything washed?" When Angel didn't reply, she shrugged and slunk out.


	11. A Shower and a Prophecy

Arezue; Desire

Chapter eleven: A shower and a prophecy

The burning water cascaded down the brunette's body like molten lava, yet she didn't seem fazed. The water's heat didn't even match up to the heat from all the anger she was experiencing.

A son, Angel's son – her brother. It made no sense, but then again, it made all the sense in the world. The Sanshu prophecy made sense now.

And to think she'd made fun of the seer who'd made the prediction. Being a prominent seer herself, she ought to have listened.

England, 1847

New England, Ye English Faire. Arezue and William walked through the fair; shooting each other adoring looks every few seconds. They stopped in front of a brown tent.

"Madame Ziggurat's future telling tent." William read out loud. He knew that this was Arezue's obsession. "Charlotte Jane, love, would you like to –"

"Of course!" Arezue gasped out. "We must find out whether we're to be together for all eternity." William raised an eyebrow at this.

"There's a question now, is there?" Arezue laughed at this.

"Well William, sometimes I do feel as if you love Drusilla more then me." William grinned cheekily, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her body to his.

"I love Dru." He admitted. "But not the way I love you, baby." He swooped sown to kiss her. Giggling, she pushed him off.

"You can't," She exclaimed, glancing around. "Not in public, what will these devout Christians say?" Sighing, William pulled away.

"Next time, we're hunting in a brothel." He muttered as he led her into the tent. Madame Ziggurat sat in front of a table, an orb of thesula in front of her.

"I foresaw your coming." She said softly, her eyes flickering from vampire to vampire. William rolled his eyes.

"Of course you did. We stood outside for fifteen bloody minutes." He snapped at her.

"William!" Arezue hissed, grabbing his arm. She turned to the woman. "William doesn't believe in seers. William shrugged in response.

"Well she's the one who insists she can see into other's futures." Arezue scowled. William absolutely refused to believe that she had premonitions. He had no problem believing Dru but when it came to her, he insisted that there was no way she could see anything.

The two sat down in front of Madame Ziggurat. William immediately thrust out his right hand, palm face up.

"Read it." Madame Ziggurat gave him an annoyed look and Arezue pulled his arm back, fuming in anger.

"There are two types of seers. Those who see and those who are forced to see. I am the kind that sees – your consort on the other hand may be able to give you a palm reading." Arezue scowled at her 'consort's' idioticy.

"William, you might not know this so I'll tell you," She hissed at him. "Never anger a seer." Madame Ziggurat nodded serenely.

"You might do as to listen to her warning." She regarded the couple. "I've already seen your future." Arezue straightened up at her words and William groaned.

"I don't believe this." He made to leave but Arezue grabbed his arm.

"Don't you even try it." Noting the warning in her voice, William dropped back in the chair. Arezue turned back to the self-acclaimed seer. "How much?"

Madame Ziggurat pointed to a sign that read ' 10 lbs per quarter of minutes' in reply.

"Done." Madame Ziggurat smiled at the vampires, much friendlier now that the two vampires had agreed to her demands.

"Well then," The seer pulled out a scroll. "Have you ever heard of the Sanshu prophecy?" Before the two could answer she went on. "It speaks of redemption, souls , rebirth and an offspring." She paused. "Specifically, the offspring of two vampires, one souled and one not – the miracle child. " There was silence. Then William burst out laughing as the seer watched angrily. Arezue scowled at the woman.

"First of all," She whispered softly, her eyes dangerously blank. It was scary how you could look into someone's eyes and there'd be nothing there. "Vampires do _not _have souls. And secondly –"

"We don't have children, you nit." William snapped. "And I'm not payin' you. He got up to leave but Arezue stopped him.

"Look, I don't care for some shoe prophecy, I want to know," She looked the woman in the eyes. "About my future. Our future." The woman sighed.

"I've told you of your future. It lies in this prophecy." She brandished the scroll. "This will mark the beginning as well as the end of you." William groaned with boredom and snatched it from her.

The woman gasped.

"You must not mar it!" She exclaimed, looking utterly horrified. "It's much too valuble." William laughed and then ripped it cleanly in two.

"No!"The seershook her head. "You've no idea what you're doing!" Arezue sighed at the woman.

"I'm hungry." William smirked at this.

"Well, looks like it's dinner time." Madame Ziggurat screamed as the two attacked.

Arezue punched the shower wall in frustration. How could she have blatantly disregarded the woman's prophecy?

"Arezue," Angel's voice called. "Fred found the second piece of a really important prophecy. I'm going to go look at it. The towels on the bed." Arezue rolled her eyes.

Honestly, prophecies were too much trouble. She distantly wondered if maybe the prophecy they had was the Sanshu prophecy but gave up on the idea. It would just be too much of a coincidence.

Sighing, she turned the shower off. Now she would have to go make nice with the pathetic human pets of her father's. God, when would he just get a life? Maybe she could get him checked into an asylum on charge of insanity? That was a thought...

SS4EVA


	12. Eleven B: In Walks Connor

Arezue; Desire

Chapter Eleven B: In Walks Connor

"So you're telling me she's in your shower?" Demanded Cordelia angrily. The entire AI gang sat in the lobby.

"Yes." Angel said slowly, wincing. He could tell Cordelia was mad because she was currently shooting daggers at him with her eyes. He swallowed hard.

He wasn't afraid of demons. He wasn't afraid of death. And he wasn't afraid of burning in hell for all of eternity.

But he was afraid of Cordelia's wrath. And for some odd, weirdly fucked up reason he was also afraid of Arezue's. Which one was worse he really didn't know.

"Well, I wanted to say no." Angel told her, stalling so that he could think of a better reason then 'I felt guilty' or 'She scares the hell out of me'. "But she's – she would have thought I said no because you – err – didn't want her here." He finished lamely. It was pretty much all he could think of at the moment.

"Angel," Cordelia scowled. "I **don't**want her here." Angel nodded.

"Yeah but I didn't want her to – you know, hate you." Nobody had ever accused Angel, the silk merchant's son, of being smart or exceptionally witty.

"Why?" Cordelia asked. "I mean, believe me when I say, I was all prepared to be nice to her but then she attacked Fred and Wesley's been acting weird – " She frowned. "Well, weirder since he met her – "

"Excuse me." Wesley intoned but everyone ignored him – which wasn't surprising owing to the fact that nearly everyone (except Fred) was still angry with him for the mishap with the prophecy.

"– and you Angel – " She turned on him. "You act like you're all freaked by her – "

"Freaked by who?" A voice cut in. Connor stepped through the door. Angel jumped up from where he was sitting, on the sofa.

"Why are you home so early!" He demanded, momentarily panicked. Connor gave him a weirded out look.

"I always come home at this time." He grabbed a handful of cookies from the plate in Fred's lap and turned to Cordelia. "Who's freaking dad out this time?" As he was about to bite into his cookie, a voice answered his question.

"That would be me." Arezue stood at the top of the stairs in nothing but Angel's sweatshirt, toweling her hair off. "So, you must be Angel's latest accident." She glanced disdainfully at him, not even bothering to hide what she thought of him at the moment.

"Winifred, weren't you going to let me borrow something to wear?"


	13. The Breaking Point

Arezue; Desire

Chapter Twelve: The Breaking Point

_Recap:_

"_You act like you're all freaked by her – " Cordelia was cut off._

"_Who's freaking dad out this time?" Connor asked._

"_That would be me." Arezue stood at the top of the stairs in nothing but Angel's sweatshirt, toweling her hair off. "So, you must be Angel's latest accident." She glanced disdainfully at him, not even bothering to hide what she thought of him at the moment. _

"_Winifred, weren't you going to let me borrow something to wear?"_

Angel shot up in shock. He'd known they would probably meet up one day, had anticipated it, but – he'd never actually gone as far to expect it to happen. It was one of those surreal moments where you feel like you're watching someone else – except that someone else is you. And now - it was Angel.

"Uh, hi." He stared at her for a moment, then clamped his hands over Connor's eyes. Connor was gawking!

"Hey!" Connor indignantly tried to pry his hands off but Angel refused to move them. He had no intention of letting the child he'd damned dechastise his son. It was kind of like poetic justice in a way.

"Arezue, put something on!" They both froze the moment the words had left his mouth. Arezue. He'd refused to ever call her that – had said that as long as she was his daughter, the name he'd given her would suffice.

Arezue swallowed hard as she stared back at Angel. She wanted to cry – he was throwing her away as if she was a broken toy that he'd gotten bored off.

Instead she rolled her eyes at him, letting Angel know that she didn't give a damn as to his theatrics.

It was pretty much the breaking point in their relationship and, at the moment, they were both acknowledging it. They were accepting the fact that both Angel and Arezue wanted to break the thread that bound them together for all of eternity, they were acknowledging the fact that Angel was choosing his son over his daughter They were stating that the past two hundred years and all the years to come meant nothing to either of them.

"Whatever." She tossed her towel onto the couch and bounded down the stairs.

"Whoa!" Connor gasped out as Angel's hand slipped and his eyes did a 180. Arezue sent him an annoyed look.

"We share the same blood cells, moron." Arezue snapped at him as she walked over to Wesley and flopped down next to him.

"Chromosomes." Wesley stated softly, trying to divert his eyes from Arezue's legs. Seeing Arezue's blank look he explained. "It's actually chromosomes what you share. Your blood cells consist of what you eat – or whom you eat –" He sighed, breaking off as he noticed Arezue's confused face. "It doesn't matter very much."

Arezue smiled at him. She liked him for some reason…

"Whatever!" Cordelia snapped. "Connor, this is Arezue, one of the skeletons in Angel's closet. And Arezue –" She made a face. " It's not important." She took in Arezue's attire.

"Wow!" She sent her ratty clothes a disgusted look. "Angel really did knock up a whore!"

"Hey!" Arezue scowled at the barb but Cordelia Chase had moved on to Angel.

"Angel, can you please tell us whatever problem your spawn has?" There was an annoyed scowl from Arezue and a wince from Angel.

"Uh, well…" Angel knew that if he said he had no idea, Cordelia was likely to stake him on the spot. "Arezue wants to tell you. It's about Dracula."

"Dracula?" Cordelia asked, looking confused. "Like that one vampire in that movie?"Arezue rolled her eyes at this. Count on Angel to shackle up with a ditzy airhead.

"I'm going to assume that you mean the Bramstoker character." Arezue stated dryly. "And yes, in a way I suppose so." Pulling her hair out of her face, she slipped a scrunchie off of Cordelia's wrist; and ignoring her shocked look, she went on.

"Vladimir and I've been together for the past twelve years or so," She paused when she saw Angel's disgusted expression. "And before you start poking fun Angelus – don't." Angel, to Cordelia's shock, snapped his mouth shut.

"Two months ago, he asked me to become his mate." Seeing some blank looks, she exaggerated. "It's the equivalent of a human wedding – without all the disgusting holiness." She shuddered. A sick grin broke out over Angel's face.

"That's great!" He started to usher her towards the door. "I'd love to give you away and all, but I just don't want to. The wedding bills are on daddy. Have fun!" Rolling her eyes, the vampire pushed his hands away.

"I'm not getting married." Angel gave her a shrug.

"I'd like to be there Arezue, but I'm busy that day. You shouldn't bother to cancel over me." He didn't look at all sorry and Arezue groaned. He couldn't even fake being a good father.

"Shut up and sit!" Angel immediately planted himself on the couch. Her eyes were flashing angrily and he didn't want to expose Connor to anything that – well, he really didn't want to expose Connor to Arezue's true nature.

"I'm not becoming his mate because I turned him down." Angel's face fell at this and Arezue's anger and hurt grew. He would really do anything he could to be rid of her. "He and his followers have been trailing me since I left Transylvania. They want me as the countess."

"Oooo!" Cordelia piped up at this. "Countess is a great thing to be – lots of money!" She frowned at Arezue.

"You said you guys have been together long – does that mean you have sex in one of his fifty dirt-filled coffins every night or something?" Arezue shuddered at the image.

"Eeew! I forced him to buy a bed. Like I would sleep on a dirt filled coffin." She frowned. "Do you know who my father is?" She glanced at Angel. "Or used to be?"

Rolling her eyes at the absurdity of such a thing ever happening, Arezue walked over to Angel's fridge, which was behind the island, and propped it open.

"Um, guys?" Fred asked slowly. "Does that mean she'd sleep in a coffin if there was no dirt?" Everyone laughed, taking the physician's question as a joke.

"Dad?" Connor turned to Angel. "Are you going to explain who Arezue is already?" Angel sighed, deflating. It was finally here, the moment he'd been dreading.

"Arezue, Connor, can I talk to both of you in my office?"

"Sure." Ever the good son, Connor immediately agreed, moving towards the office.

"No." Arezue didn't even bother looking up from the ransacking of Angel's refrigerator. Angel sighed once more. He was decidedly tired of Arezue's continued insolence.

"Alcohol's in the office." He offered and received the very response he expected.

"Sure daddy! Why didn't you say so sooner?" Smirking at him, Arezue moved into the office.


	14. What's Best For My Children

Arezue; Desire

Chapter Thirteen: What's Best For My Children…

Arezue walked through the lobby and into her office, her leather books clonking on the floor rather loudly. She immediately sprawled out on what she'd decided must be Angel's desk – it had a big sign that she supposed must have been from Connor or the like that read '#1 Dad'. The irony to such a thing was so thick she couldn't resist sending a scathing look in Connor's direction.

"Gimme the whiskey!" She demanded and both Connor as well as Angel stared at her for a moment. Finally, Angel gave her a long-suffering groan.

"No." She shot up at this angrily and Connor gingerly sat down on the desk next to her. For some reason, he was getting the idea that Angel didn't want him to get to close to the honey blonde vampire and, after the entire "Underwater Debacle" as everyone in the office seemed to refer to it as, he didn't think it was all that good of an idea to make anymore trouble.

"What the fuck do you mean –" Arezue started but Angel cut her off, his eyes flashing at her violently.

"Don't – swear – around – Connor." Arezue let out a frustrated groan and rolled her eyes, turning to Connor in an effort to keep from grabbing a chair leg and finding out exactly how far she could get the self-made stake before Angel pounced.

"How old are you?"

"I'll be seventeen soon." Connor didn't know why, but for some reason he wanted to impress Arezue as well as show her up in front of his father (she was obviously important to Angel and he didn't like the idea of a woman being more important then his mother to Angel). He honestly didn't know which one he wanted more.

"But you promised Angelus!" Arezue, bored with Connor, turned back to Angel, twisting her blood red lips into a pout. She ran her fingers through her damp locks, quickly putting it up in a messy replica of an eighteenth century bun. "And besides, the kid's at the point where he's already swearing and pretty much doing everything you don't want him to do."

Angel watched her silently. The way she moved, the way she spoke, the way she smirked with that false bravado. It was all so fake, yet so real. And it was such a far cry from the little girl he's held in his arms just a few hundred years ago.

Ireland; November 18, 1755 

"You must get an invite for me before you go in." Darla, the woman with the English drawl and pink lace ball gown, whispered to the longhaired brunette that clutched her arm.

"Yes, sire." He answered, watching her with wonder. To think that they would be together forever… She'd told him that she had made him not only a vampire but also her mate for all eternity as well.

The two stood in front of a door. The door to his life, the very one which she'd revived him from. The life that he would now destroy.

"Go ahead, my darling childe." She said softly, her voice like magic moving through the air. The fledgling, Liam, took in a deep breath and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the door slowly swung open on its hinges.

"Papa? Angelus?" It was a word they'd made up together a long time ago. My Angel. The one with the face of an Angel; it fit now, didn't it? A small child, perhaps fourteen or a little older, stood in the doorway staring at the man in awe. Her clear blue green eyes shone with tears.

"Is it really you?" Liam laughed at her words and pulled her into his arms, balancing her lithe body quite easily with his new strength.

"No, my little lamb." He kissed her wet cheek, licking away the salty tears that had made their course down. "I've changed." She smiled at him, her expression one of absolute adoration.

"Of course you have, Papa." She ran her fingers through his hair gently. "You promised to change and I suppose you did." Liam chuckled at her wisdom-less statement.

"This women here, sweet lass, is Darla. Your new mum, won't you invite 'er inside?" The girl's smile slowly faded as she spotted Darla.

"You always say that…" Her eyes started to tear up once more as she stared at Darla. "Please come in, Miss." Darla laughed, amused with her words to Angel.

"Oh no, sweetheart. This time your father's quite serious." Her English lit voice ran against the girl's Irish one as she raised the girl's face to look into her eyes. "Now, shall I call my new daughter sweetheart for the rest of forever or does she have a name?"

"Charlotte Jane." She whispered softly, trying to duck her head back down. Darla, her supposed new mother, didn't let her.

"Well, Charlotte Jane, we're both wearing pink. Pink is my favorite color, what's yours?" A small smile spread it self over Charlotte Jane's face.

"Pink…" It was low enough so that any normal human would have to strain to pick it up, but Liam and Darla did not need to.

"You know, on our way here Liam and I saw a doll with a pink frock in one of the shops. Do you like dolls?" The child slowly nodded and Darla looked up at Liam who had a contented smile playing across his features.

"Your mother thought you'd like it." Liam told her, stepping forward and pulling a package out of his coat.

"Open it." Darla urged as Charlotte Jane slowly undid the packaging, all the while smiling at her happily. Darla had a feeling Charlotte Jane had never been thoroughly spoiled. She'd make it so now.

"Ooooh…" It was a porcelain hand crafted Persian doll – according to the label. The doll's pink dress, it read, was especially sewn to match the current child's fashion.

"Her name's Katherine. She comes with her own brush and we can buy a doll's pram and maybe some more clothes." Suggested Darla and Charlotte Jane nodded happily.

"And," Darla said slowly, brushing back a strand of hair that had made it's way out of the pink bow that held up Charlotte Jane's hair and into her eyes. "Every new mother names her child. Would it be all right if your new mummy gave you a new name?" Charlotte Jane glanced at her father who conspiratorially winked at her, a smirk on his face.

"Okay." Darla hmmed.

"I think," She pronounced the words thoughtfully. "Arezue would be perfect. It means desire." Arezue nodded at this, her love for her new mother rapidly growing

"Arezue…" Liam repeated slowly, smirking at Darla. "I'll have you know, woman, that I picked the lass's name me'self." He paused. "And I will ta' call her what I please." Darla laughed at this.

"If you must, darling." She turned back to Charlotte Jane. "And where is my new family?" The child immediately brightened at this.

"Oh! They'll adore you." She paused. "They may be angered that you're English but that can't be helped." She clutched at Darla's fingers. "They're asleep."

Darla nodded towards Liam and he stepped forward.

"Close your eyes, my love." He reached out to cover his daughter's eyes. "and tilt your head." He ran his fingers over her slim neck.

"This might hurt a bit." Darla warned softly, stepping forward and running her fingers over Liam's and consequently Arezue's neck. "But remember this darling, Mummy will always love you."

A gasp was all that escaped from Charlotte Jane's lips before her mother's fangs penetrated one side of her neck and her father's the other side. And then, as quickly as it had started, the pain disappeared and Charlotte Jane passed away.

"Dad?" Angel snapped out of his stupor as Connor worriedly called for his attention. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Angel blinked, running his fingers through his hair, just as Charlotte Jane had done that night. "Yeah, I – I'm fine." He turned to look back at his desk where Arezue was still sprawled on its contents. He squinted, and then set his jaw, averting his eyes.

"Are you wearing underwear?" Arezue shrugged and Angel felt disgusted. When had Arezue become such a – whore? "Sit up." Arezue gave him a trademark "bored now" look that oddly reminded him of Vamp-Willow and crawled over to his chair before settling down in it.

"Where's that alcohol!" Arezue demanded and Angel sighed.

"Can both of you please – just sit?" What was he supposed to say? Did they have handbooks on how to, you know, actually _talk_ to your kids? Connor rolled his eyes at the question.

"We are sitting, dad." Angel bit his lip at the remark. Arezue hadn't been around Connor for even fifteen minutes and she was already corrupting him. God…he just wanted to just throw her out on her ass and lock Connor up in his bedroom so that he would never become a monst – what she had became. What countless other people he'd met had become.

"Connor," He started slowly. He didn't want to alienate the one thing that made his life worth living. "I need to tell you something. It's really important, okay?" Connor nodded and Arezue faked a dramatic yawn.

"Okay, dad." Angel smiled at the words and walked towards Connor, wrapping him in an affectionate hug.

"I love you Connor. I want you to always remember that – no matter what. " Connor hugged hi back and Arezue stiffened, tears threatening to fill her eyes.

_((You know I'll always love you, right?))_ The words echoed through her head as Angel and Connor laughed over something, the happiness obvious in their eyes.

"Arezue?" Angel turned to her and she immediately forced a look of indifference onto her face. He just shook his head at her and turned back to his son.

"A long time ago, when I was human, I had a daughter." Angel started the speech he'd carefully rehearsed in his head for the last five minutes or so.

"You were married?" Connor asked and Arezue burst out laughing, her tone noticeably bitter.

"No, you idiot. That means he knocked up a prostitute at the local brothel." She smirked over at Angel who glared angrily at her. "Oh, I'm sorry 'gelus. Forgot you wanted to sugar coat the story. Oops!" Her face spoke the words for her. She'd said exactly what she'd meant to say and there was no way in Dante's hell that she was going to let him get away with white lies and half-truths.

"Is that true?" Connor probed. Angel shrugged, not really knowing what to say.

"Yeah." He held his breath. What if Connor suddenly hated him? And it wasn't like he was a good role model for Connor in the first place, what with the vampire thing, but when you added Arezue to the mix it was ten times worse.

Instead of condemning him as Angel had expected, Connor just nodded. Angel unconsciously wondered whether Connor even knew what 'knocked up' meant. Or what a prostitute or brothel was.

"Anyways, after becoming a vampire, I turned her." Connor blinked confusedly while Arezue – who was obviously bored at this point – started singing rather loudly, flipping through Angel's drawers.

"_I'm not a girl, not yet a woman…All I need is time…a moment that is mine…and while I'm in between – I'm not a girl!"_ Ignoring her, Connor stared at Angel.

"Does that mean you made her a vampire?"

"There is no need to protect me…it's time that I…learned to face up to this on my own…I've seen so much more than you know now, so don't tell me to shut my eyes…"

"Yes." Angel was glad he wouldn't have to go into much detail.

"_I'm not a girl, not yet a woman!"_ Arezue sang on.

"Her name was Charlotte Jane and she's, um, behind you." Connor turned to look and frowned, searching for something he couldn't quite place. All he found was a singing Arezue who was obviously searching for attention.

"_All I need is time …a moment that is mine…and while I'm in between – I'm not a girl! But if you look at me closely,"_ The two stared at her as she finished the chorus. "_You will see it in my eyes, this girl will always find her way! I'm just trying to find the woman in me… while I'm in between…I'm not a girl, not yet a woman!"_

"Done now?" Angel asked, annoyed and Arezue giggled, suddenly bubbly.

"Hey little brother!" She smirked at Connor as realization swept through him. He slowly turned back to Angel.

"Oh." It was pretty much all he could say. Arezue stopped going through Angel's desk and tuned the two back in.

"So," Connor, it seemed to Arezue, had all the verbal skills that their father had. Arezue frowned at the thought, Angel was _hers_ - not _theirs _– and she was not sharing. "You're Charlotte Jane."

"Don't call me that!" Arezue snapped. "He," She nodded towards Angel. "Was drunk when he named that."

"No I wasn't" Angel protested, and then reconsidered when Angel shot him a look of disbelief. "Or maybe I was. Who remembers that kind of thing anyways?" Arezue rolled her eyes at Angel's stupidity.

"Whatever. Just point me towards the alcohol already." Connor perked up at this, much to Angel's dismay.

"On the bookshelf, behind the book labeled 'Demonology Encyclopedia'." Arezue immediately found it and started to work on unscrewing the cork.

"So," She smirked at them. "Is baby Connor allowed to drink or – "

"No." Angel cut her off, his anger growing. He was damned – metaphorically – if he was going to let her give Connor an alcohol addiction. Why Arezue felt the need to pick on Connor was beyond him.

"Why not?" Connor demanded and Angel sighed. Great, he was going to have the 'I want alcohol' argument with Connor. He'd known he'd gotten too good of a deal when raising Arezue had been a breeze.

"Because Connor," He tried to keep his voice as well as his temper in check. "Your just too young." Arezue giggled at this and Angel frowned. It weirded him out – Arezue giggling or acting happy usually meant that she felt crappy and wanted to torture someone. Or it could mean she was up to something.

"No, sweetie." Arezue told Connor, drinking the liquid straight from the bottle. "It's because you're daddy's little baby." Connor felt a jolt of anger flow threw him at the words. He's spent his entire life in Quortoth, who was Angel to treat him like a baby?

"I'm not a child, dad!" He nearly shouted. "I'm sixteen." Angel struggled to keep his composure; why did Arezue have to try and destroy his relationship with Connor?

"Connor, it's not just the age thing." Angel tried to reason with Connor. The fact that drinking under twenty-one was illegal, he knew, would do nothing to help his case. " Alcohol does things to people. It's really not safe Connor." Arezue stopped mid-sip at this, hurt shooting through her.

"Actually –" She started.

"Shut the hell up and drink your damn alcohol!" Angel spat at her, not even bothering to glance at her. Arezue raised the bottle to her lips, but didn't drink. Angel and Connor argued in the background but she didn't hear them.

She didn't understand, why would he not let Connor drink but urge her to drink more? Didn't he care at all about her?

"Well, why does she get to drink and I don't?" Connor demanded, voicing Arezue's thoughts. Angel ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated beyond belief.

"Because I love you, Connor!" He shouted. "I love you and care about you in a way that I don't –" He shook his head at Connor. "I'm your father and as a father it's my job to do what's best for my children." Connor immediately quieted down at this and gave Angel a tentative smile.

"Okay." As the two made nice with each other, Arezue frowned.

'What about me?' She wondered, but didn't say. 'You're my father too, why don't you love me?'

As Angel turned to look at her, she busied herself with the task of drinking her whiskey and looking bored.

"About the mating ritual," Angel said softly. "I'll send a letter to Vladimir. I don't know if he'll be willing to compromise but I'll try." Angel shrugged.

"Arezue, I'm sorry, but until you get a mate I have to speak for you in the Aurelius court." Arezue's mouth fell open at this. "And if I have to force you into an arrangement with Vlad, I will."

"No! You can't do that!" Arezue exclaimed, feeling angry and a little scared. "You can't just force me to spend the rest of eternity as one of Dracula's simpering brides!" She was really scared now, what if he flatly refused to help her? What if he forced her to go through with the mating ritual? She'd become Dracula's sex-slave…

"Yes, I can." Arezue told her. "And if you continue to annoy me, I will. I owe Dracula for helping me out in a tight spot so he might ask for you as payment. I can't refuse a request like that." Arezue was silent, for once she truly had no idea what to say.

"In the demon world, women are regarded in the traditional sense – we both know that Arezue." He turned to go then turned back to her.

"I really am sorry, honey. I'm just trying to do what's best for you." His voice was much softer now. Arezue just shook her head at him, tears streaming down her face.

"How can you say that?" She demanded angrily. "How can you pretend that tying me down to some vampire that sleeps with dirt is good for me?" She stared at him as he ignored the questions, looking everywhere but in her direction.

"Papa?" She tried to appeal to his paternal side. He shook his head at her/

"You can go out tonight, after the sun sets – If you want – but I want you to take connor with you. Curfew's at ten and," He paused to regard her. "If you try anything, Charlotte Jane," He told her, his voice chilling not only her bones but Connor's as well.

"I will beat you until you bleed into unconsciousness." He walked out.

Arezue burst into tears and started to sob. Connor, feeling wretchedly sorry for her, came over and awkwardly wrapped his arms around her.

"It's okay." He whispered into her ear, doing this felt weird and he didn't know exactly what to do – but he figured that she was family and that it was his job to at least try and make things better for her. " He cares. You heard him. He's only thinking of you…" He didn't feel so sure as the words left his mouth and he knew that Arezue knew. "He loves you…"

Her soft broken sobs were the only thing that answered him.


	15. Family Time

Arezue; Desire

Chapter Fourteen: Family Time

Angel walked back into the lobby and started to go through the already ransacked fridge, noticing that Fred and Gunn were making out on the couch whilst Cordelia and Wesley (who, Angel could see, was plainly not enjoying Fred and Gunn's display of public affection) flipped trough one of Cordelia's fashion magazines together.

He noted that business had been rather slow lately as he pulled out two bags of blood and headed into the kitchen. Pouring the blood into two mugs and setting them in the microwave, Angel became busy making an after school snack for Connor. He really couldn't stop his mind from drifting back to everything that had happened in the last twelve hours or so.

Arezue probably hated him now (more then before), he mused. It didn't really surprise him. He had come to expect it.

He thought back to last night and how he's promised himself that he'd do anything to redeem himself in his daughter's eyes. And he hadn't changed his mind.

But now, he had to think of her as well. He wanted to do what was best for her but the demands for her hand from the vampires wanting to up their place in society – she _was_ a direct descendent of the master, after all - had been pouring in like crazy since her big split from Spike in the seventies…

This opened up even more complications. He knew that not only was Charlotte Jane still madly in love with her William – but that Spike still harbored feelings for her.

Yet, Spike was already inter-mated with Drusilla. Although male vampires were allowed to have as many mates as they willed, he knew that Spike would never see it in such a way.

Furthermore, there was Dracula. Dracula had helped him out of a tight spot during the French Revolution and he would, Angel held no doubt against this, demand Charlotte Jane O'Connor as compensation.

He couldn't refuse Dracula's request. To do so would be scandalous – more so then having a soul and killing other vampires. And anyways, he needed someone to make an honest woman out of Arezue as soon as possible. She whored around too much for her own good.

Angel walked back to his office to find Arezue in Connor's arms, still crying. He set down the two mugs and placed the two plates he held on the desk.

"I bought you a snack, Connor." He reached out to smooth Arezue's hair.

"And Char, I've got breakfast. See…" He held up the plate of Oreos. "I know you like to dunk cookies into blood, so I bought you some." He really was trying… Arezue moved away from Connor.

"I never told you that." She whispered, wiping at her eyes with the sleeves of his sweater. Angel shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well no, but Spike – I know – likes them." This bought up scenes from Angelus's rage over Sunnydale and an immobilized Spike; Angel bit the inside of his cheek, forcing himself to forget.

"So you figured I'd like it." Her tone was suddenly bitter as she stared at him, their eyes intersecting. Angel stared back and she dropped her gaze, nodding resolutely.

"Yeah." She took the plate form him. "I don't drink animal blood." Angel shot Connor a look, showcasing the annoyance Arezue stirred within him.

"It's human blood, just bagged." She made a face and opened her mouth, presumably to rebuttal his remark.

"He's trying to help, Arezue." Connor broke in. She just sighed and took the mug.

"If you say so." She sounded defeated. Angel knew it was probably because he was exercising his sire rights for the first time in over years and she now felt as if she'd been demoted to fledgling status. He sat down in one of the office chairs, facing the desk. Arezue was sprawled in his chair with Connor next to her. Being as tiny as they were, both of them easily fit into the oversized chair that could dwarf even him at times. He wondered what he ought to say.

"How was school?" He finally asked Connor. Connor shrugged in reply.

"You know, normal." He hesitated. " This girl talked to me…" Angel grinned at this.

"A girl, huh? Bet she couldn't help but fall over her own feet." He was proud and it showed. "It's in your genes, you know." Connor laughed and Angel joined him.

Arezue watched them, a distant memory rising in her mind.

1752, Ireland

Liam O'Connor lay in bed with a raging headache, watching his eleven-year-old daughter, Charlotte Jane, as she worked on her sewing. It was only seven thirty but he'd been banished to his room by his father for 'not paying proper attention to your daughter' and 'whoring around'.

"You know, lass," He finally said and Charlotte Jane looked up, her hand pausing it's mending.

"Yes, papa?" He wanted to yell at her for being so – perfect. He wanted to beat her and punish her for it. But, he knew to do so would be sheer madness. She was, after all, the only person he knew of that seemed to truly love him.

"I want boys one day." He told her flippantly. He was saying it to just cause her a little pain, but she didn't know that. She was to trusting to think such things. "Not another daughter like you," The words fell from his mouth before he could think twice.

"Daughters – woman – are space gone bad." He could see her tearing up and he hated himself for doing this to her – but he didn't want her to blindly love him. He didn't deserve it. " I want boys, lots of them. I suppose you'll go to the streets then." Her sewing clattered to the floor, shocked tears streaming down her face.

" Men," He said over her sobs, trying to drown them out. He didn't want to see her cry, but what other choice did he have? It was her fault for loving him so relentlessly in the first place.

"I'd want lots of little men." He paused in his ministrations. " Do you suppose the brothel down the street will take ya' in? They might remember yer mum." He regretted the hurtful words the moment they were said. His eleven-year-old daughter was shaking by now, her face stricken as tears made their way down.

"Weren't you mendin' me shirts for Sunday mass?" Charlotte Jane just nodded, bending down to pick the fabric as well as the needles up.

Arezue snapped out of her reverie to see Connor and Angel chatting about something called the soup-er bowl…They hadn't even noticed her zone out.

Frowning, she stared down at her cup of blood. She didn't really understand why. Why did he not lover her? Why did he want Connor more than he wanted her?

And she wanted to hat Connor – was all set to – but she couldn't. He'd actually been nice to her – nobody had ever done so before (unless they had ulterior motives to do so).

She felt tears sliding down her face once more. Before she could wipe them away with her sleeve, Angel passed her a Kleenex box.

Just out of contempt, she raised her hand to wipe her tears on the sleeve anyway.

"Don't." Angel's voice stopped her. He was daring her to go ahead and do it; he wanted to see if she would do it, knowing of the whipping that would follow for intentionally disobeying him.

Charlotte Jane slowly lowered the sleeve and instead used the Kleenex. Angel and Connor began to chat again – and when he knew Angel wasn't paying attention, Connor reached out and squeezed his sister's hand.


	16. Rapes and the Whipping Girl

Arezue: Desire

Chapter Fifteen: Rapes and the Whipping Girl

Angel walked into his bedroom, holding a yellow dress. Arezue sat on the bed pouting – though she'd definitely deny it if called on it.

She steadily ignored him, lighting up the eleventh cigarette in the last hour or so with a silver Zippo lighter. Angel tossed the clothes at her but she didn't even bother to look up.

" I got you a change of clothes from Cordelia. She says it shrunk in the wash so I figured it would be just about your size." She continued to ignore him, blowing drags on her cigarette. "I would've borrowed something from Fred since she's just as tiny as you," He continued to babble on, not really knowing what to say. " But then Cordy said that that there was no way you'd fit into anything of hers because your boobs are so much bigger."

Arezue slowly turned to look at him, surprise in her eyes at Angel's choice of words. Angel blinked, mouth open.

"Er, I can't believe I just said that." He winced. "Those were Cordy's exact words by the way."

"So, did you just come up to comment on my breast size or…" Arezue looked to him for a response, distrust in her eyes. Angel took a deep breath.

"No." How was he supposed to say this? "We need to talk." Arezue groaned.

"I hate yellow. I hate the dress. We've talked, good-bye." Angel pursed his lips into a thin line. How was it that she hadn't acted like a hormonal teenager when she had been a teenager, yet acted like one after reaching the two hundred mark?

"I'm serious." His voice was like frozen steel but his insides were not. She sighed, clenching her teeth. She immediately turned away from him when she felt her eyes start to burn.

"Let me guess," She spat out at the wall. "You want to talk about how you've decided to take up your sire claim again." Angel clenched his teeth.

"There's no 'taking up'," He stared at her, even as she avoided his gaze. " Arezue, I am your sire – always have been. See, I thought you'd grown up but I guess you really haven't." He told her coldly. " From now on, as long as you live under my roof, you are the childe and I'm the sure. Understand?" His voice really left no space for argument, but then again, Arezue was a pretty stubborn vampire.

"What are you going to teach me now, sire?" She bit out with malice, spinning around to face him. "Are you going to teach me my place by – what – raping me or something?" Shock was etched into every part of Angel as even his inner demon reeled. He could never – would never –

She was his daughter. Sure, he knew of vampire who taught their childer their place by brutally raping them – even if they were biologically related – but he would never do it to Arezue. He'd done to his other childer at times, but never her. He could never hurt her like that.

From the moment she'd been born, she'd been this innocent ethereal presence in his life. He'd always hated her for being so. He'd wanted to corrupt her sometimes, yet he really couldn't stand the though of anyone truly tainting her in such a way.

"How can you ask me that?" He finally whispered, pain exulting off him with every syllable. Sure, he'd considered torturing her, beating her but raping her was a completely different story. "Why would you ask me that?"

Arezue shrugged, trying to brush tears from her eyes without being seen

" Because I heard you," .She whispered. "That night – I never forgot. William, you raped him. You raped him because he didn't know his place…" Her body shook as she relieved the night over again. How could she ever forget that night? She'd known Angelus, her father, was a cruel person yet she'd never expected him to something like that to Spike. She'd been afraid of him doing the same to her ever since that night. A hundred and sixty-five years ago and she was still scared.

"That's different Char." His voice was thick with emotion. "I'm his sire and I choose to punish him that way." He started to unbutton his shirt. "I'd never do that to you because it would be more of a punishment for me then for you." He pulled off his shirt and tossed it on the bed.

"You've done worse." She replied softly. And he had. He knew it too, but there was a certain order to be kept in the demon society and as the sire, it was his duty to make sure it was there.

He'd spoken the truth when he'd told Connor that as the father it was his job to do what was best for his kids. Yet, it was also his job to do what he deemed best for his childer as well, regardless as to whether he had a soul or not.

The belt came off with a tug and he folded it in two,

"Pull up your underwear and bend over the bed." He told her quietly. "You've been acting up since you got here." He thought about the statement for a moment. "Well, actually since the boxer rebellion when your boyfriend killed a slayer." She glanced back at him, over her shoulder, as she bent over the bed.

"Can we just get this over with already?" She asked, annoyed. "I have an appointment with the prison guard at six." Angel sighed and let the belt fly.


	17. Pure Love and Law Firms

Arezue; Desire

Chapter Sixteen: Pure Love and Law Firms

Arezue stood in front of the Hyperion lobby, leaning against the desk. For some reason, the idea of sitting down made her uncomfortable. She wore the yellow sundress and yellow wedges that Cordelia had 'thoughtfully' lent her ("Honestly! Everyone knows that the shoes make the outfit!"). She hated it. It was yellow, way too girly for her tastes and made her seem – harmless; but she had to wear it. Angel had made it clear that she would not "prance around" in clothes that looked as if they had been literally molded on. As Arezue didn't want to anger him when he held her future in his hands, she'd gone along with it.

The AI team was busily discussing some demon that Cordelia had seen in her "vision". Arezue didn't like the fact that Cordelia had visions. Her premonitions had always given her the edge in her father's life and she didn't like the fact that this woman (who, Arezue grudgingly admitted, did have incredible taste in shoes) could so easily take it from her.

"Arezue!" Cordelia's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "Will you please stop lurking and sit down?" The brunette demanded angrily and Arezue winced.

"I don't really –" She started but was cut off by the smirking seer.

"Ooops! I forgot – you got spanked and can't sit down because it's much too painful!" Cordelia shrugged off Arezue's angry glare. "Next time, you might want to try being a little quieter. The noise scared away several potential customers." Rolling her eyes at the brunette's snarkiness. Arezue stomped over to Wesley, who was pouring over – the yellow book?

'Odd people have odd fetishes.' Arezue thought, plopping herself down next to him on the couch.

"So, whatchya doin'?" Arezue asked coyly, crossing one leg over the other so that he could have an unobstructed view of her long legs. The way Wesley's eyes shamelessly traveled first to her chest then to her face made her smirk.

"Guests." He said softly, seemingly enraptured with her face. "I'm mailing out – " He broke off, as if realizing that this was not something he should be telling her. "Something for Angel." He slammed the book close abruptly as if not wanting her to see something. "It's nothing of importance." Arezue smiled, running her tongue over her lips sensually. The pain is her butt-cheeks as she sat there was truly worth the well-concealed look of desire that the ex-watcher shot her.

"Cool." She stated monosyllabically. "The big lunk tell you where he was going?" She asked and Wesley had to fight the smile rising to his face at her chosen words. Arezue ran her fingers through her hair, waiting impatiently for an answer. She wanted to leave the hotel before Angel came back and changed his mind about letting her go out.

'He's like a fuckin' jailor!' She thought angrily.

"He went out to get the – er – "Arezue frowned, eyes narrowing as Wesley struggled to come up with at the spur of the moment. There was definitely something going on that nobody had bothered to fill her in on. "see a friend."

Arezue nodded, accepting the answer but not really putting any faith into it. She contemplated pulling the truth out of the man by flipping up her skirt but then decided against it. It was doubtful that the Englishman would be bothered at all.

How had he gotten that wicked scar across his neck? Arezue wondered but didn't voice. It was awfully sexy…

"Whatever!" She surmised to him, quickly giving him a small peck on the lips. His hardened eyes seemed to become a little softer but not by much.

"Angel has said that you are allowed to go out after sunset as long as you take your brother with you." Wesley Wyndam-Pryce told her coolly, not batting an eye at the kiss – the opposite of what Arezue had hoped for.

What, Arezue wanted to know, had hurt the incredibly sweet man staring back at her to harden him to the world?

She considered reading him again but then quickly changed her mind. Last time she'd read him, she'd been much too overwhelmed by how much love he felt towards the person he loved. If he still loved the woman, and she was certain he did, her reading would show nothing but that love. She desperately wished she could have gotten a closer read the first time, than she would've been able to belittle the woman in Wesley's eyes so that he could set her first.

If only his love wasn't so pure, so real…

'Oh well,' Arezue thought as she, smirking, waved goodbye to Wesley and walked off to find Connor. 'Like any woman in her right mind would turn down such a – hunk!' The eighty's lingo made her giggle and Arezue smiled.

She was sure Wesley would get his happy ending. Someone who could truly love deserved all the happiness in the world.

For once, Arezue was glad she had a soul. Is she didn't, she would've probably tortured the ex-watcher for being able to love in such a way that she could only dream of. And she didn't want that. She would probably develop a guilt-complex to rival her father's if she ever did such a thing.

Arezue had a reason for being so agreeable after being punished and being condemned to a life of servitude towards Dracula.

She had found a way out. She'd overheard Cordelia and Fred talking about some law firm called Wolfram and Hart that specialized in demonic cases. According to Cordelia, Angel hated them and they hated Angel.

She just hoped that the credit cards she'd swiped from her father's wallet would cover the cost.


	18. Love January 1972 Eternal

Arezue; Desire

Chapter Seventeen: Love…January 1972. Eternal.

"Come on!" Arezue shouted, sprinting down the alleyway, Connor right behind her. Surprisingly for her, Connor seemed to be able to match her skill for skill, punch for punch and kill for kill (she'd watched him behead a vampire with just his hands moments ago) – and he was managing to keep up with her pace as well.

"Where are we going?" Connor shouted back and, exhilaration running through every part of his body. She reached out and caught his hand, urging him to run faster.

"The subway." She replied as they jumped from one building's roof to the next. "I have to see something." They slowed down as they reached the stairs that lead down to the subway terminals.

"Come on already!" She snapped at him, pulling him down the stairs; anxious to see if it had survived all these years. "It's terminal seventeen." She told him and he nodded, not at all sure as to what she was talking about.

She came to an abrupt halt when they reached the foresaid terminal and Connor crashed into her. Immediately the teenager hunched over, trying to force oxygen into his lungs. Arezue didn't bother; she didn't need to after all. People in the crowds shot the two annoyed looks for not moving fast enough to accommodate the hustle and bustle of the underground city.

Ignoring them, Arezue dropped to her knees as she spotted a couple of handprints in the cement, remembering a certain night that she could never forget.

1972 Los Angeles

Arezue leaned up against the terminal wall, biting her lip anxiously. He'd told her that seven was a lucky number, yet he'd also told her to wait for him at terminal seventeen, as he didn't want to push his luck.

He'd said he'd be back as soon as he was done with her – he'd been so sure of himself, Arezue reflected. According to her watch, it had been nearly four hours since then. Four entire empty hours.

He'd been fighting the slayer for four hours. What if …no…She couldn't let herself think in such a way, she told herself. Thinking it would make it a probability and she knew better then to think she was strong enough to take it.

She clenched her eyes shut, sliding down onto the floor, trying to keep the tears from falling. She would not cry. She would wait for her boyfriend for the next few decades if she had to – he'd be back. He'd promised.

She glanced over to the right where a sign stood, proclaiming the six feet of land flanked by orange cones was still drying and people ought not to tough it.

Somebody clamped their right hand over her eyes, the left one on her waist and leaned in, pressing their hardness against her back.

"Waiting for someone, pet?" A husky English voice drawled into her ear, nearly causing her to faint. The man held her upright as she spun around and threw her arms around his neck; sobbing uncontrollably.

"Shush, love." He whispered in her ear. " Told you 'd be back and here I 'm." she shook her head, although he couldn't see it, pressing her lips to his neck.

"William, oh god… I was so scared." He chuckled, pushing her body away from his so that he could look into her eyes.

"First rite of business, love. Despite contradictions, 'm not god." Arezue managed a small smile at this attempt to make her laugh. "And anyhows, Char, we're gonna spend the rest of our fuckin' unlives together." He told her. "And no bloody slayer's gonna stand in the way." She smiled through her tears and Spike's grin widened.

"Here." He said, spotting the drying cement. "Come, love." He pulled her to the cement and pushed his hand in. "Put yers nex ta mine."

Smiling, Arezue complied with his wishes. After a few seconds he pulled both their hands out, grabbed a hairpin from her hair and began to scribe. 'William the bloody' in the first and 'Charlotte Jane William' in the second; below it he wrote, 'January 1928. Our love will live on forever. Eternal'

"There ya go. Proof." Pulling away his hand, William admired his handiwork, as did she.

"Charlotte Jane William?" She inquired, smiling knowingly at him. He grinned wolfishly at her.

"It'll happen one day, Charlotte Jane, my love." She smiled dreamily at him.

"Maybe you ought to add 'a day' after forever." She told him, causing his right eyebrow to rise.

"Forever and a day?" He asked and she frowned. He made it sound so stupid.

"Well, that's how it's done nowadays." She defended herself. "It's romantic." Spike rolled his eyes at her.

"Now yer jus bein difficult, love." He told her as if it were common knowledge. "Ev'ry one knows women know nothin' of romance. They think that readin' those penny dreadfulls is bleedin' romantic." He scoffed at the thought and Arezue's eyes narrowed.

"The notion of romance changes with the times, William." She replied coolly. "And just so you know, that horrible attitude of yours is called sexist nowadays." William gasped, eyes widening; feigning mock horror at her words.

"No…Pet! However could you think so? You know I'm a firm believer in the women's rights movement and all that rot." He paused "Though it is all just bullocks."

William smirked mentally; debating politics was a form of foreplay for the both of them – when hot wax wasn't available, that is.

"You only say that to get in with the ladies, William." She replied, smirking up at him. "Don't think I haven't noticed, my love." He sighed, as if conceding a point.

"I'm sorry, baby, but there are some things jus' better left to men." She raised an eyebrow at this, a smile playing about her features.

"Like what?" It was shocking how easily such innocent words could be twisted on her tongue. Smirking at her, William threw her roughly against the floor, unmindful of the gasps of horror from onlookers.

"Things like this." He roughly pushed his mouth against hers, silencing her scream of surprise. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Arezue happily kissed him back.

"What is it?" Connor's voice sliced into the memory; bring her back down to reality. She just smiled sadly, pressing her slender hand into Spike's slightly larger handprint.

"Love." She replied breathily. Even now the exuberance hadn't faded. She truly doubted it ever would.

'Charlotte Jane William'. Thinking of what would never be bought tears to her eyes, but she blinked them away. She was to be with Dracula, according to her father, not him. And anyways, even if she weren't promised to Vlad, Spike would never again be with her.

He would love her – that much she knew was true – but he was still too angry with her for what she'd done, to take her back.

It had all happened because of his deranged obsession with slayers. She'd called him on it, told him that it would get him killed one day. That it would drive them apart. She'd told him that she could no longer stand the fear of waiting for him to return every time he got it into his head that he wanted to add another notch to his belt. She'd been angry with him, asked him to choose between her and his hobby.

He'd become angry and told her that if she could ask him to make such a choice, if she couldn't accept him for whom he was, then maybe her love for him wasn't as strong as he'd thought. Then the next morning, he'd promptly left.

There had been no arguments, no fighting. Just his anger and his departure. She'd been with men after him but had never bothered to consider them as anything more then a way to blow off steam.

She'd blamed his leaving on the soul at first. But she knew better, he'd left her because of her questioning of him.

Tears silently cascaded down her face. She'd never meant for him to leave her like that; just – give a little.

"Are you okay?" Connor asked tentatively, kneeling down next to her. She glanced at him.

"Shut up." She sniffled. "Just memories, happens when you live forever." Connor nodded, looking down at the pavement curiously.

"William the bloody and Charlotte Jane William," His brow furrowed. "1928 January. Our love will live on forever and –" He squinted.

"A day." Arezue told him, smiling sadly. "That was added after the cement was almost dry." Connor nodded, finishing up.

"Eternal." He looked up at her. "Were you in love?" She laughed hollowly, trying to keep from showing any signs of weakness.

"Were implies past tense, darling." She pulled herself up. "Come on, it's almost eleven. The club scene should be heating up about now." Connor also stood up; glancing at her.

"Won't we get carded?" Arezue just smirked at him, racing ahead.

"That's half the fun, moron!" Grinning, Connor ran after her – promising himself that he wouldn't touch anything alcoholic. He had no desire to make their father any angrier then he would be when he found out where they'd been all night.


	19. A Fair Deal

**Arezue; Desire**

Chapter Eighteen: A Fair Deal

Summary: Lilah Morgan finally makes an appearance and a deal is struck.

The line in front of Club Infinity was enormous and chalk full of over weight men, women in just too much leather, teenagers with too much makeup on as they tried to seem older then they obviously were and people with absolutely no chance of ever getting in. Connor stared open mouthed at the line.

"We're going to wait that long?" His voice was full of disbelief. Arezue rolled her eyes at his ignorance, wishing that they were already so that she could just ditch the idiot.

"No." Her statement left no room for rebuttal as she pulled him to the front of the line. "We're going in right now." People unceremoniously booed and shouted at them as they passed by.

"Hey! Who the hell do you think you are?" The bouncer demanded, stepping Arezue's way as she was about to walk in.

"Get the fuck out of my way." She drawled, running her cold eyes over the balding man. He gawked at her and she rolled her eyes.

"For all that is unholy and evil - this is pathetic." She shook her head as her face morphed to that of demons. The man screamed in horror, falling back, his fear tangible in the air. Smirking at him, Arezue reached up, snapped his neck and tossed him away like a broken doll.

The moment they stepped inside, Connor grabbed her arm and spun her around so that she was facing him.

"What did you do to him?" He demanded angrily, scowling in such a way that it sent Arezue back to a time when Angel had scowled at her just the same. Her eyes narrowed into a glare.

"You might want to watch yourself, Sparky!" She spat at him, disgusted by his show of morals. "Keep going on like this and you'll be exactly like the old man." She started to turn away but Connor stopped her.

"What," He repeated. "did you do to him?" Arezue sighed, the lie coming easily to her.

"Just knocked him out for a while." Connor didn't look at all convinced but Arezue walked away anyways, not really caring whether he believed her or not. "Check on you in an hour loser. Avoid the prostitutes in the back unless you've got a sock handy."

She walked away, leaving a gaping Connor behind. Sauntering over to the bar, she smiled flirtatiously at the bartender.

"Bloody Mary with ice, please."

"Check on you in an hour loser. Avoid the prostitutes in the back unless you've got a sock handy." Connor watched Arezue walk in shock. What on earth was he supposed to do all alone in an adult club with – Connor frowned.

People with purple hair and metal spike bracelets? One of them brushed past Connor and he took a step back – it seemed to him that somehow these teenagers were much scarier then demons for some reason.

'Purple hair…' He frowned. 'Why would anyone want purple hair?' He wandered past the bar where Arezue was glaring angrily at the bartender and over to the back where everything was so much darker. He wanted to get as far as possible from the barzohai demon that was staring at him like it wanted to eat him.

"Hey gorgeous…" A blonde in dark makeup brushed his arm. "Looking for some fun?" Connor blinked.

"Um," He shrugged, not seeing anything wrong with her offer. "Sure. What do you want to do?" The blonde looked at him as if he was an idiot.

"Gee," She frowned as if deep in thought. "Well, I'm a prostitute so…" She gave him an annoyed look and Connor lit up, remembering what Arezue'd said.

((Avoid the prostitutes in the back unless you've got a sock handy))

He glanced down at his shoes and grinned. He had two socks which was one more than Arezue had said he'd need.

"What exactly do you need the sock for?" He couldn't help but ask as he started to pull his shoe off. The blonde laughed.

"You can leave your clothes on, just unzip your pants and I'll get the condom." Connor was mystified. Didn't the blonde prostitute woman need his sock? And what the hell was 'a condom'?

And Angel had never answered his question, what exactly was a prostitute?

((A long time ago, when I was human, I had a daughter)) The words rang through his head. ((That means he knocked up a prostitute at the local brothel))

"If I give you my sock does that mean I've 'knocked you up'?"

"Straight whiskey with ice, please." The bartender didn't move and Arezue scowled, annoyed with the human's incompliance. "I said please you prick, now move it." The man's eyebrow rose.

"I'd ask for an ID but I know better." He moved on to the next customer and Arezue blinked, momentarily shocked at being brushed off. Sure she was wearing a knee length yellow dress fit for a four year old in everyone's eyes but her father's – but **nobody** was allowed to just walk away from her and –

"One straight whiskey and one Bloody Mary with ice." A brunette woman in her early twenties told the bartender, sliding onto the stool beside Arezue and effectively breaking her out of her thoughts about how she was going to scream until she got what she wanted.

"Lilah Morgan." She introduced herself and Arezue scowled.

"Go away or I'll bite you, you stupid annoying –" It was an understatement to say that Arezue became irritable when she didn't have any alcohol in her system. And the fact that Angel had taken away her cigarettes did nothing to improve her attitude.

"It's on me." Lilah interrupted her, handing her the whiskey. Arezue took the drink from her then purposely let go of it, letting the glass fall and shatter into a million pieces on the floor. Much to Arezue's displeasure, the brunette didn't bat a lash, instead calmly taking a sip of her drink.

"Gee," Arezue smile sweetly. "I would but my daddy thought me never to drink with strangers." Smirking, she turned to go – she did have to go find that law firm - when the brunette spoke.

"I'm with Wolfram and Hart." Arezue froze. "And I was told you needed some help with a vampire known as Dracula…" Arezue turned to face the woman.

"What do you want?" The brunette signaled to the bartender for another drink as Arezue sat back down.

"Oh, just a little party." She glanced at Arezue over her glass. "I was told you might be willing to compromise." Arezue took the glass that Lilah offered her.

"Party…" She smiled sweetly. "Now you're talking my language." Lilah Morgan smirked; this was surely the deal that would put her at the top of the food chain at Wolfram and Hart.

"Tomorrow morning, 2 am. My firm is hosting a – welcoming party – for a few subspecies." The lawyer told her as if talking to an old friend. "Of course, we're afraid someone might just convince Angel to crash so it's your job to keep him busy at the time."

"I do this and you get rid of Dracula." Arezue surmised and Lilah nodded the affirmative.

"And, afterwards, you rid us of Angel" She shrugged. "Tomorrow night's just to test your loyalty, standard procedure." She paused. "It seems like a fair deal to me…" Arezue smirked.

"Done." The two clinked glasses, both their minds calculating and devising at the speed of light. Both women were evenly matched – except, maybe, perhaps, Arezue was much more cunning. Only time would tell.

Connor stared silently at the former doorman's cold dead body. Arezue had told him that she'd just knocked him out for a while so he'd figured he should go back and make sure it was nothing serious.

Arezue'd lied to him; she'd really killed the doorman. Just because she wanted to.


	20. Wedding Prep 19 and Loyalties 20

Arezue; Desire

Chapter Nineteen: Wedding Preparations

Connor leaned back on the island frame, surveying the surrounding lobby where Wesley and Gunn were hanging up decorations. For what, he wasn't sure, but Cordelia had mentioned something about Arezue and…then he'd tuned out because he was too busy watching her lips move.

His hands instinctively curled into fists. He had no idea what was happening to him. Sometimes when Cordelia was in the room, he would start to feel funny. Sometimes, when she wasn't there, he'd miss her terribly. And for some reason – he **couldn't** stop thinking about her lips.

"Hey." His father's voice interrupted his deep brooding and he spun around, startled to see his father. "You okay, Con?" Connor nodded, struggling to keep from looking guilty. What his father would say if he ever found out about his son's morbid fascination with his secretary was one of his biggest nightmares.

"I'm fine." He hesitated. "Did you want – "

"Yeah." Angel cut him off, looking anxious. "I promised myself I wouldn't ask you this because, well – " His dad smiled. "I know you'd never do anything wrong." Connor nodded, feeling a bit resentful at being put down as a 'good kid' so quickly. "But, I have to know, where did you and Arezue go last night?"

"A Club." Connor answered without thinking and anger flashed across his father's face. Thinking quickly, he covered up with a laugh. "I'm just kidding, dad. Jeez," He laughed again and Angel calmed down.

"So, you guys didn't –"

"No way." Connor shook his head. "Arezue wanted to see this really boring musical down at the mall, Rent or something or the other –" Angel laughed.

"Arezue wanted to see this movie or you?" Connor played his part perfectly by blushing and Angel grinned. "Little secret, Connor," He leaned in. "I like ballet." Connor laughed.

"Cool." He paused, considering something. "Dad, if Arezue **had** taken me to a club – "

"I'd stake her." Angel replied without batting an eye, his expression darkening. "I'm not going to allow her to ruin your life, Connor." Connor scowled.

"She's my friend, dad." Angel shook his head.

"No, Connor, she's not. She's a twisted bi – " Connor's eyes widened at he realized where Angel was going.

"Dad!" Angel sighed.

"Just – " Angel paused, taking in the denial in Connor's eyes. "Don't trust her too much, okay?" Connor nodded and Angel started to walk away when Connor remembered something.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The man's body lay sprawled on the ground, his eyes still open; frozen in horror. His neck was twisted at a grotesque angle that Connor was sure the human body didn't bend at. The body felt cold to Connor's touch.

The body. The dead body. The body of the man that Arezue had killed. Oh god….

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Connor! Connor!" Connor snapped back to the present, struggling to breathe as the memory nearly suffocated him. "Connor?" Connor swallowed.

"I – it's nothing." He lied, avoiding his father's eyes. If Angel was willing to stake Arezue over taking him to some flashy club, then there was no telling what he'd do to Arezue if Connor told him the truth.

"Okay." According to Angel's eyes, he didn't exactly believe Connor. But Connor was the 'good kid' right? The kid that never did anything wrong?

"Arezue!" Angel called his daughter from the lobby. She walked in from the kitchen, dripping wet and holding an ice cream cone. He blinked.

"Why are you wet?" Arezue walked over to couch where he was seated addressing – envelopes? 'Hmm…probably early Christmas cards…' She mused. It **was** December already – although why any vampire in their right mind, especially Angelus, would celebrate a Christian holiday was beyond her.

"Tried to wash a bowl, sink wouldn't cooperate." She answered cheerfully, licking the bottom of her cone to insure she wasn't dripping all over herself. "Decided on a cone instead." Angel raised an eyebrow, wondering what 'the sink wouldn't cooperate' actually meant. He chose not to ask and instead reconciled himself with the thought that at least she hadn't gotten into any real mischief.

"Cordy and Fred are waiting for you in the office. They need you for something." One of her eyebrows rose at this but she didn't say anything. By the expression on his face, she could tell that he knew exactly why she was needed in the office but didn't want to tell her. Deciding to play along for the moment, Arezue walked to the office, strolled inside, and froze.

Every inch of the office was covered in dresses – wedding dresses to be more specific. And in the midst of it all sat Cordelia, Fred, and a man she realized was a tailor as he was holding cloth, a yardstick, a measuring tape and quite a bit of lace. A green demon that Angel had introduced earlier to her as Lorne sat in a corner, animatedly chatting away on his cell phone about something.

"No." Arezue finally managed to utter in shock as Cordelia began to usher her in. "No, no, noooooooo!" She tried to pull away but the seer had a death grip.

"Oh, quit being such a baby. This will be fun!" The woman snapped at her, rolling her eyes for emphasis and huffing angrily. "It's just in case Angel can't convince Dracula to forget about this whole wedding thing." Fred looked up, grinning from ear to ear.

"This is so fun," She beamed sweetly and Arezue had a sudden urge to eat her. "It's like playing dress up!" Cordelia nodded as she forced Arezue into a chair in front of the tailor.

"Yeah," She paused, tilting her head to the side. "Except, you know, this isn't pretend." Arezue's mouth fell open in shock as the tailor started taking measurements and everything suddenly clicked.

Wesley flipping through the yellow book, searching for phone numbers and addresses, Angel labeling envelopes, Wesley refusing to tell her where he'd gone off to – it all made sense now.

"Oh no!" She gasped out, mortified beyond belief. "Angelus is out there labeling invitations – wedding ones, nonetheless!" She attempted to make out the door but Cordelia grabbed her just in time.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," She snapped at the vampire. "Angel had the invitations custom made this afternoon." She laughed. "Like he'd send handwritten invitations out for **your** wedding."

Everyone else in the room laughed at the suggestion and began to idly chat about the wedding. Cordelia wanted to know whether Arezue knew if Dracula would prefer a seven layer chocolate cake or vanilla, Lorne was worried over the fact that the furies had not returned his call about putting an anti-violence spell on the wedding hall, Fred was pondering over the subject as to how the vampire binding ritual and human weddings were and the tailor about how she ought to wear a sleeveless dress in order to direct most of attention to her petite frame and her well endowed breasts – a remark that caused Cordelia to reply that a person could not notice the C cups.

Arezue just listened silently to their chatter; she didn't really believe that this was happening to **her**. She rather felt as if this were all some elaborate nightmare that she would awaken from soon enough.

"This is insanity!" She finally bit out, pulling her hair away from Cordelia who was going on and on about what hairstyle she ought to choose. "I'm not getting married!" The tailor glanced inquisitively at Cordelia and Fred.

"Are you sure zat zhis one iz nought getting ze cold feetz?" He asked and Cordelia laughed.

"Oh no," Cordelia laughed, shaking her head for emphasis. "She's just off in denial land." The tailor nodded at this and turned to Arezue.

"What color would you prefer, my dear French-woman?" He asked and Arezue wrinkled her nose.

"I'm Irish, you idiot." The tailor shook his head at her.

"No, no, no! I can tell zat you 'ave French blood in you." Arezue shrugged at this.

"On my mother's side," She paused. "I'm not wearing white, by the way."" Cordelia held up a yellow dress and she emphasized, "Or any girly pastel, for that matter." Cordelia sighed.

"But yellow looks so cute on you." Arezue winced, disgusted at being referred to as 'cute'.

"I'm not cute – I'm scary!" The three people stared at her and she groaned, aggravated. "You know what, pick any color you want. It really won't matter because I'm not getting married." Cordelia rolled her eyes and began to chat away about preparation for the wedding that – according to Cordelia – would take place the following evening in the hotel lobby.

Arezue didn't bother paying any attention to the talk. She had no intention of being married at all. Vampire ritualistic weddings forced the bride to give up all their rights to their husbands – and she would never do such a thing. Angel could never force her to. She would make sure of it.

Well, at least she could laugh a little when Angel wandered into the kitchen and realized it was completely flooded.

Arezue; Desire

Chapter Twenty: Loyalties

At one thirty am, Arezue sat in Angel's car. She'd told everyone that she'd had a change of heart and wanted to prove it by celebrating her engagement. They were headed to an Italian restaurant on the high economy side of the city, that Angel insisted, wasn't all that.

Arezue was still hurting over the fact that he cared more about saving his precious money then making sure that her impromptu engagement dinner was perfect. She sighed, forcing herself to forget about something as stupid as Angel's preference of money over her.

She had to concentrate or her plan could – no, Arezue frowned. Her plans never failed, just Spike's. Whose plans sucked, she assured herself (wrinkling her nose at how she'd used the informal word 'sucks' – what had all those diction lessons been for again?).

Anyways, she forced her mind away from her ex, she had plans and she always got her way in the end.

Twenty five minutes later and the gang was seated at a table chatting about the wedding and everything else that needed to be done.

Arezue was, at the moment, glancing at the watch on her father's wrist anxiously. Lila had told her that the dimension hopping would take place at two o' clock and Arezue wasn't going to miss it. She planned on proving to Lilah exactly where her loyalties lay tonight.

"I heard that this place has a great ballroom," She started innocently, running her hand up and down Wesley's thigh under the table. "Do you think we could check it out?" There was a general acceptance from everyone except Wesley.

"I'm sorry to inform you of this, Arezue," Wesley said slowly, gently brushing Arezue's lingering hand away. "But according to the sign at the gate, the ballroom's closed for a private party tonight." Arezue formed her lips into a pout, sensing that this would be much harder then she'd expected.

"Please?" She asked Wesley pointedly, causing Angel's eyes to narrow suspiciously. She'd been acting much too agreeable lately – at first he'd assumed that she didn't want to be punished again – but this amount of sweetness from her usually meant she was up to something

"Tonight's my last night to do everything I've always wanted to do," Arezue told them all, feigning sadness. "Don't you suppose the rules could be bended just this once?"

Everyone exchanged looks of uneasiness so she tried again.

"It's not like we'd hurt anything. I just want to take a quick little peek." Angel sighed. He knew Arezue was up to something and the only way he would ever find out what it was would be if everyone played along in whatever twisted game she was playing.

"You know what," He finally said, putting his napkin on his plate. "My little girl's getting married tomorrow. Why the hell not?" Arezue smiled at his words. It was exactly one fifty nine at the moment. By the time they got there, everything would be started and it would look like a complete coincidence when everyone figured out what was going on.

2: 02 AM

The group wandered into the ballroom and froze. A portal sat in the middle of the room, spitting out demons at an alarming rate. Two humans that the group knew to be Lilah Morgan and the current Wolfram and Hart CEO stood next to the portal, talking amiably. Lilah looked up and froze.

"No!" She looked utterly shocked as Wesley, Connor, Gunn, and Angel began to fight the four demons just as the portal closed up and the girls (as well as Lorne) tried to keep out of harms way. Arezue pretended to be just as surprised as everyone else by the sight of the demons.

Lilah stared at Arezue in shock and Arezue smirked. She hadn't expected Arezue to betray her. Hadn't even considered the idea or the ramifications of it. After all, it wasn't as if someone being forced into a binding marriage would ever turn down an easy out.

Still smirking, Arezue grabbed Lilah's arm when she and her boss attempted to leave.

"It's too bad," She whispered when no one was looking. "That your daddy never thought you not to trust strangers." Arezue watched the woman angrily walk off.

Arezue stared out the window, straining to see the stars through the city lights.

"Why can't you make your own bed again?" Angel's voice demanded, breaking her out of her dream-like state. Arezue turned to him, smirk in full force.

You're not going to actually force me to make my own bed the night before my supposed wedding, are you?" She asked innocently and Angel groaned.

"There's no supposed wedding, Arezue. It's very real." Arezue rolled her eyes.

"I already told you that I'm not getting married and that's that." She paused. "Did you remember to fluff the pillows the right way?" Angel pressed his lips into a thin line and turned to go – then turned back around.

"Tonight," He hesitated. "You knew about them being there, didn't you?" Arezue considered telling him to fuck off but changed her mind.

"The brunette –" She started. "Lilah something, she offered to get me out of marrying Vlad." She told him haughtily. "But I turned her down." Angel smiled at this.

"Charlotte Jane," He sounded proud. "You chose to get married willingly." Arezue shook her head and he frowned, confused.

"No," She corrected softly. "I chose to protect my sire's honor by not betraying him." Angel smiled again.

"Goodnight, princess." He walked to the door and flipped the lights off. "Remember, tomorrow night is the first night of the rest of your life." As the door creaked shut behind him, Arezue sighed.

"No, daddy. Tomorrow night will be like any other night. I'm not getting married." Even though she felt sure of this, she tossed and turned all night long, plagued with visions of bowing at Dracula's feet and accepting him as her master.


	21. Wedding From Hell

Arezue; Desire

Chapter Twenty-One: Wedding from Hell

"Rise and shine, Gorgeous!" Lorne's voice roused Arezue out of a dream in which she was eating crumpets with a green vibrating orb of energy.

'Weird…' She thought drowsily as Lorne paced back and forth asking for her opinion on a wedding theme and reiterating to her everything that still needed to be done. Arezue just stared at the demon blankly.

"Lorne!" She finally snapped. "What time is it?" Lorne gasped in horror as he looked at his watch.

"Oh no, Muffin! It's 4:22 already – sunrise is in an hour!" Arezue scowled in disgust as he pulled her out of bed. '_Muffin?_' "You're going to have to hurry if you want to get ready in time for the wedding, Sweetheart." Arezue pulled her arm away from the anxious demon.

"You only gave me an hour of sleep!" She sputtered. "And stop pacing; I'm getting all these worried-anxious vibes from you." Lorne stopped pacing and turned to her.

"If you knew what I know, you'd be anxious too." He muttered under his breath and Arezue's eyes narrowed. He obviously hadn't meant her to hear. "This wedding has to happen tonight in order for -" Arezue was intrigued.

"What?" The demon's eyes widened when he realized she'd heard his mutterings.

"Oh! I just meant that I'm receiving waves of fear and denial from you, Sweets." He paused. "Maybe you want to talk about it?" He sounded hopeful, causing Arezue to groan. If Lorne wasn't pepped up on drugs…

"If I go along with this charade of a wedding, will you stop playing the shrink?" Rolling her eyes, she made to leave but was stopped by Lorne.

"Honey, I'm an empath demon... I know everything's gonna be okay in the end." Arezue sighed.

"So do I" She replied hotly. "You know why?" She answered her own question, "because it's not taking place." She paused, frowning. "I thought your empathy thing only worked when people sang for you?"

Angel paced back and forth as his secretary watched him. The wedding was tonight and he was going insane with worry as to whether everything would go off without a hitch or not. And the fact that the groom hadn't said much other then 'Shove off, pouf' when he'd called was a bit unnerving to say the least. But then again, he _had_ sounded drunk at the time…

"We booked the caterers, right?" He asked earnestly.

"Check." Cordelia zinged, marking it off on her list.

"Connor?"

"Easily distracted by a television." Angel frowned, not at all fond of the fact that Connor would be taken with the box all day. He'd read horror reports about what television did to children…

"And the cake?" He forced himself to move on. Cordelia flipped through her checklist.

"Will be delivered an hour before the reception starts."

"Decorators –" Angel started but the brunette woman abruptly cut him off.

"Are decorating as we speak." Angel racked his brain, struggling to think of what else needed to be done.

"The wedding dress!" He finally remembered and Cordelia beamed, tossing her clipboard away.

"I picked it out last night – you are _so _going to die when you see it!" Angel hesitated, visions of virginal white wedding dresses running out.

"It's not, you know, white – right?" He inquired. "Because if it, then I'll die because Arezue will kill me." Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"Duh." She sighed, giving him a look that said she found him pathetic to say the least. "It's red – the color of blood." Angel stared at her, panic consuming.

"You picked a red_ wedding_ dress!" He exclaimed. "That doesn't sound _normal_!" Cordelia rolled her eyes, ignoring his obvious distress.

"Well neither are those invitations." She waved one around. "You replace Dracula's name wit –" She started but Angel deftly cut her off, snatching the invitation from her hands.

"No! Arezue might hear you and –" He took a deep breath. "Dracula's name isn't on the invitation because I've got a plan." Cordelia's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Angel!"

Wesley silently watched as Arezue made faces while the tailor, Fred and Gunn argued about the veil. Arezue spotted him and smiled, flashing him her underwear under the lavender dress she wore.

Wesley just smiled back, sadness filling him. Arezue had been flirting with him on and off since the moment they'd met – he was pretty sure he had a reasonable shot at a relationship with her – but he knew better.

She would live forever, he would die tomorrow - it was better he accepted it now. The relationship between Angel and Buffy had closed off Angel's heart forever; he could never do that to the woman he loved.

It wasn't that he was a good man, quite the opposite actually. He'd just chosen to make sure that Arezue would be happy and loved.

Angel had informed him that she did, in fact, love the man she was to marry tonight and he had it on good authority that he loved her just as much. After all, the two of them had spent nearly a hundred years together; the watcher's council had even nicknamed them 'the vampire paradox couple'.

If he could do this without breaking down then perhaps he was not a lost cause after all...

"Wesley!" Arezue's voice broke into his thoughts and he looked up to see her beaming at him. Would she hate him when the truth came out? He wondered. Would the wonder he saw reflected in her eyes towards him at the moment turn cold after tonight? "I think I'd like a sundae. Join me?" Her eyes said it wasn't a request. "Promise you can have the cherry."

Wesley smiled. Maybe tonight she would hate him, but right now she didn't. Only a complete monster would accept her offer, knowing full well that he was going to betray her. But then again, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce had never really sold himself as a good man.

"I suppose the decorators can wait awhile." Wesley confirmed coolly, making sure to keep his composure. Beaming, Arezue stood up and grabbed his hand, ignoring the tailors' protests about how they hadn't tried on the veil yet and Fred's nagging for them to be ready for the hairdresser soon.

Spike hurried into Groom's Bridal, pulling the tattered smoking blanket off and discretely tossing it into a corner. Angel had insisted that he pick up his tux from the bridal shop before he did anything else.

He'd received the invitation long before he'd gotten the phone call and had nearly had a heart attack (figuratively speaking, of course).

When Angel finally informed him of what was going on, he'd nearly freaked – after all, to be reminded of your lost love was painful. How she'd walked out on him all those years ago was still a sore spot…

But then he thought about what Buffy would want him to do if she were alive (after telling him to get lost) and made his choice.

He'd left Dawn in the care of Willow and Tara (telling them that he had a wedding to attend) and drove down as soon as possible.

"Name, sir?" The clerk inquired and Spike grinned at the leggy blonde.

"William the Bloody." The clerk smiled back at him; flashing him her breasts as she purposely bent down to supposedly see the book better.

"I'm guessing you're the best man." Spike laughed.

"Not bloody likely, pet." He smiled, hoping the next line would make her stop drooling. "Finally decided to tie the knot." The clerk seemed to think this was a turn on.

"Wow! Congratulations." She giggled. "I'll go get it from the back." Spike watched her go, spotting the woman's side. Maybe he ought to get the bride-to-be a present.

"That teddy seems nice enough." He mused, tilting his head to see if it was, in fact, see- through or not. "Would call for a lot of make up sex…"

Arezue stared at the Polaroid in her hands. "This is what I look like?" She blinked. "Hey, I have really nice skin!" Since Arezue didn't have a reflection, Fred had come up with the idea that maybe they should take pictures instead. Arezue was pretty surprised at the idea – wasn't there a rumor that vampires didn't show up in photographs?

"No…" Cordelia groaned. "You're supposed to be telling us whether you think anything needs to be fixed or not," She paused. "Like your hair. It's all poofy on one side and not the other. The hairdresser sighed (Arezue had pinpointed him as gay by now).

"That is the fashion!" Arezue groaned as Cordelia and the hairdresser began to argue again. She was starting to suspect that she was going to spend the entire day getting her hair done.

'I am so never going to get married for real. It's a waste of time that I could be using to seduce a certain ex-watcher…' Cordelia hadn't even allowed her to finish her sundae, insisting that they still had too much to do. Poor Wesley had even gotten a lecture from the queen bee about how he was supposed to be with the decorators, supervising their work.

She distractedly watched Fred and Gunn make kissy faces at each other as they left to pick up demons and vampires that were flying in.

'Poor, poor Wesley,' She mused. 'I wonder how I can make it up to him…' As the hairdresser began to redo her hair according to Cordelia's instructions, Arezue began to daydream of all the things she was going to do with Wesley once the wedding was canceled.

Denial, thy name is Arezue…

At seven that evening the hotel was bustling with activity. Angel was going insane, the furies were chanting Angel's name provocatively, Cordelia was helping Arezue change into her dress, Wesley and Gunn were keeping the multi-species guests under control and Fred was fawning over Arezue.

"You know this is a waste of time, right?" Arezue asked Cordelia, trying to see if Cordelia was lacing up the corset right.

"Angel…Angel…Angel…"

"Right." Cordelia answered her distractedly. Arezue had a sneaking suspicion that the brunette wasn't paying any attention to her at all. "Fred, honey," Cordelia squinted. "You think the hem is done right?" Fred shrugged.

"Angel…Angel…Angel…" Arezue bit her lip; she was starting to feel nervous at how close the furies were to her father. They were practically smothering him…

"Looks all right, do you want me to get the tailor?" Cordelia pressed her lips together, tilting her head to the side.

"Nah. I think it looks okay. Did you get the bouquet?" Fred held up the pink roses – Angel had insisted they be pink. Arezue smiled thinly, realizing the symbolism of the pink roses.

"Angel…Angel…Angel…"

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

**1755, Ireland **

The hand broke through the dirt, searching for leverage. The onlookers watched with anticipation, the brunette male tense.

'Shan't we help her?" He hissed to her company. The blonde sighed.

"She has to make it out on her own. It's tradition." She sighed again. "The girl should've been out by now." The creature crawling out of the dirt seemed to struggle but neither moved to help her. Fifteen minutes later, managing to reach leveraged ground, it burst out and into the silent graveyard.

A relieved look broke over the brunette's face as the couple reached the fledgling who was now struggling to breathe.

"Alrigh' there lass?" The male inquired.

"Of course she is. She's a childe of Aurelius, isn't she?" It was a broad statement as the blonde brushed the dirt out of her childe's face.

"My adorable little girl." She whispered delightedly, handing her a bouquet of pink roses. "To signify the beginning of the rest of your life." The girl's eyes widened as the blonde enveloped her into a hug, dirt and all.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Arezue took a deep breath, taking the bouquet from Fred, eyes filling with tears as she fingered them.

Darla. Her mother. She'd have been so proud of her today (even if it was all a sham).

"Aww!" Fred engulfed her in a hug, obviously convinced that she was crying with happiness. Arezue chose to preserve her dignity by letting her think it.

"Angel…Angel…Angel…" Gritting her teeth, Arezue whirled around. She was going to _kill _those slutty furies...

As the wedding march sounded and Arezue was pushed into the isle, everyone oohed and Arezue distractedly reminded herself to watch the furies. She'd taken care of them but they could come back…

Dracula smiled at her and she coldly smiled back as her mind wandered to how she would get her revenge. Next to him stood Spike (who Dracula supposed was the best man). Arezue's eyes widened as she spotted the platinum blonde.

"William?" She whispered in shock, staring at him. He grinned at her mischievously, not looking at all surprised to see her.

"Yep. Here for Drac's wedding. You one of the bridesmaids?" Something in his eyes told her that he was up to something. Before she could reply, a smirking Dracula cut in.

"She's the bride, William." He sneered, his eyes telling Spike that he was the victor in their bid for the vampiress. "And I'm the groom." Spike pulled back, shock on his face. Why was Arezue getting the feeling this was all an elaborate act?

The guests watched, presumably wondering what the holdup was.

"Le' me get this straight." Spike whispered, anger flaring in his countenance. "You're indebted to me and you pay me back by stealing me woman?" Vladimir looked taken aback.

"No, I didn't –" He knew what this meant. If he screwed Spike over in front of the entire the entire demon community while indebted to him (even for a lousy eleven pounds), everyone would see this as backstabbing. It was a setup, he realized with anger. "No, William, you misunderstand me." He forced a smile onto his face. "Arezue is the bride and you are the groom. This is how I repay you."

Arezue's eyes widened in shock. No! What the hell was going on here?

'It doesn't matter.' She told herself. 'If I don't do my part in the ritual – If I don't drink his blood – we can't be bound together for all of eternity.' She smiled. Her plan was the best plan in the world. She'd spent an entire day working on it! She watched as Dracula stepped aside and Spike took his place (was it just her or did he have the deepest darkest clearest bluest most gorgeous eyes in the world or…).

The vampire priest took his place, "we are gathered here today, my fellow demons, to witness the blood-binding of William the Bloody of Aurelius and Charlotte Jane Angelus of Aurelius…" The look on Dracula's face was one of pure contempt.

Arezue ran through her plan once more; William's impromptu arrival would not change anything. In order for them to be bound, she had to drink Spike's blood and he hers, she would just refuse to drink and the couplitus ritual would not work.

The priest continued, "Instead of using the couplitus ritual, that has been widely popular over the last century or so," Arezue froze, glancing at Angel. He was giving her a knowing look. _No, no, no!_ "We will be using the triumlitus ritual." There was a gender murmur of confusions amongst the guests.

'The triu-what!' Arezue thought, too shocked to run. 'What the hell is he talking about?'

"As you may or may not know," The priest spoke over the crowd, raising his voice over the crowd to be heard. "This ritual requires the exchanging of blood by the bride's sire as well as the groom.

"No…" Arezue whispered, staring in frozen terror at her father. This ritual would require her to do nothing; she didn't even need to be present. She silently watched as the golden goblet was filled with Angel's as well as Spike's blood.

She watched as they both drank and everyone clapped. She watched as the priest informed the crowd that the ritual would be complete when the union was consummated. She watched as the guests rose to move onto dinner and shock overwhelmed her senses.

The last thing she saw was Wesley's pained expression before darkness consumed her and she lost consciousness.

"Charlotte Jane?" Pet?" The voice permeated Arezue's consciousness as the feeling of warmth suddenly overwhelmed her senses. Was it William? It sounded a lot like him… She smiled slowly, his ocean-blue eyes coming into contact with her brown ones.

"William…" He grinned down at her and she could practically feel her heart melting. Wasn't that just ironic? …and the Ice Queen's heart melted as… Arezue giggled, the child's fairy tale coming to mind.

"Took a nasty fall there, love." Spike frowned at her. "You okay?" Arezue nodded, reaching up to massage her forehead.

"I had the oddest dream, Will. We got married…" Her laughter ceased as guilt glided across Spike's face. "What? Where are we?" She shot up and glanced around. They were in an ordinary looking room.

"Welcome to _La Suite De Lune de mile_." Spike murmured huskily, running a finger down her arm. Arezue's eyes widened – the honeymoon suite! Seeing her look, Spike clarified. "We're s'possed to go down after we're done shagging."

"After we're done sha…" It clicked in her mind suddenly. If they didn't consummate the ritual, it would be void.

"I have to go." She tried to leave the bed but was stopped by Spike pressing his lips to hers.

"Nooommmm…" She moaned against the kiss. She couldn't do this. It was wrong. And he was a complete bastard – leaving her the way he did. And – was it just her or was he the best kisser she'd ever been with?

"Ooh!" She gasped out as Spike's hands found their way under her dress. As the lust slowly overtook her, she forgot all about the ritual and gave in to his ministrations.

A few hours later, Arezue crawled out from under him. He lay there, staring up at the ceiling, brooding and looking spent. As realization as to what she'd just done hit her, she burst into tears; running to the door and throwing it haphazardly open.

Wesley stood in the doorway, holding a bouquet and sporting a look that said he was to trying to compose himself.

"You forgot this." He slowly said, handing it to her. She stared down at the pink roses in horror.

((To signify the beginning of the rest of your life)) Darla's words echoed in the wind. Arezue clapped her hands over her mouth in disbelief.

"No!" She shook her head at Wesley in disbelief. Wesley looked at her sadly.

"You love him – Spike." He said softly and she nodded the affirmative.

"Yes, Wesley, I do love him. But," She bit her lip. "I think I also love yo-" Wesley silenced her by placing his right index finger to her lips. He seemed to be in pain.

"No." He shook his head at her. "You shouldn't." She stared at him, confused.

"Wesley, when we met – I had a premonition." Wesley nodded, not looking at all surprised. He would know, Arezue couldn't help but think; he had been a watcher after all.

"Yes." He nodded for her to continue.

"I saw love –" His eyes widened with panic.

"Did you see who – " Arezue shook her head and he looked relieved, causing her to frown. "Good." She watched him curiously.

"Who is it?" He smiled at her, reaching out to stroke her cheek. Wesley shook his head at her, sadness in his eyes.

"It's really not all that important." She smiled, tilting her head to consider him.

"Bet she loves you too. Or he. No one could ever resist those charms of you, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce." He wasn't too sure about that but he did know that she regarded him with as much affection as her twisted heart could manage.

"I don't think that's quite possible." He replied finally. Her smile faded in surprise. "We're from two different worlds. It would never work." She rolled her eyes, laughing a heartless laugh.

"You're such a freak. Romeo and Juliet are so overdone." She shrugged nonchalantly. "The furies are stashed in a broom closet down the hall. You could fuck them if it would make you feel better." He laughed softly and she smiled down sadly at the flowers.

"Have you told her that you love her, yet?" She asked and Wesley couldn't help but smile sadly. He'd figured she'd hate him if she ever found out his secret – now he would know for sure.

"No," He broke off abruptly, pulling a card out of his tux. "There's something I need to tell you." He held his breath as she read it.

"You are cordially invited to attend the wedding of Charlotte Jane Liam O'Connor and William – " She glanced up at him, eyes widening. "- the Bloody!"

She stared at him as everything slowly clicked into place.

"Everything was planned?" He chuckled bitterly.

"Everyone knew. Angel and I came up with it. Everyone just went along with it." There was silence.

"Arezue – " Wesley started but was cut off.

"It's Charlotte Jane, you know that." He nodded slowly. She didn't hate him like he'd feared she would. She respected him.

"I did the right thing, didn't I?" Angel asked Cordelia who replied the affirmative. "Then why do I feel so –" he searched for the word, "bad?" Cordelia sighed.

"Because you're afraid she hates you. Angel," She placed her hand on his thigh. "It was either Dracula or Spike. The lesser of two evils, remember?" Angel couldn't help scowling a little. He couldn't believe he'd given his little girl away to Spike, of all the stupid mindless things he'd done…

"And anyways," Cordelia took a bite of her cake. "She actually likes Spike, remember? Give it a year, she'll be thanking you." Angel just sighed, drowning his drink and glancing over at where Connor sat, nervously trying to hide a wine cooler. Next to him sat Wesley, staring stonily at the wall.

"Yeah," Cordelia intoned just as Angel decided to let Connor's wine cooler slide. "Wesley's on his seventh whiskey." She frowned. "Speaking of which, we get to keep the leftover alcohol, right?"

"You think they're going to come down anytime soon?" He asked, causing Cordelia to burst out laughing.

"As if!" She threw back her glass. "They're probably all lovey-dovey with the love making and all."

Arezue leaned against the back of the door, sobbing. Spike held her silently. He knew she was probably devastated at being forced into such a marriage but wasn't quite sure how to make it better.

"I'm sorry, love." He whispered and she shook her head at him, a look of resentment crossing her features.

"I love you!" She gasped out. "I never stopped, tell me!" She pounded on his chest. "Tell me that you never stopped either."

Spike didn't reply. He loved her but he loved Buffy as well. Yes, Buffy was dead but that didn't mean he could forget about her.

And he couldn't tell Charlotte Jane he loved her. It wouldn't be a lie, but it would still be wrong.

"Tell me…please…" ((To signify the beginning of the rest of your life))


	22. Historical Info

Arezue; Desire

The Timeline: A History

1444: Darla is turned and renamed by the master.

1728: Liam O' Connor is born (Ireland).

1742: Charlotte Jane O'Connor is born to Liam O'Connor and Charlotte Janette (in Ireland).

1755: Darla steps into the picture. Liam O'Connor and Charlotte Jane O'Connor die. Charlotte Jane is renamed "Arezue" (see chapter 13 of Arezue; Desire)

1793: Drusilla joins the family; sired by Angelus (England).

1818: Angelus sires Penn in Virginia, New World America (Virginia).

1837: William the bloody makes them the fearsome six. Arezue and Drusilla sire him (New England; see chapter six of Arezue; Desire). Angelus and William start a relationship.

1843: William leaves Angelus for Arezue (England).

1847: The Sanshu prophecy is prophesized by a seer at the Ye English Faire; Arezue and Spike ignore the warning (see chapter 10 of Arezue; Desire. New England).

Late 1850's: William christens himself "Spike" on account of his way of torturing victims with rail road spikes (Dublin).

1862: Darla and Angelus kick Penn out for attempted murder to his sire (Germany; check back for chapter info).

1869: After a fight, Spike leaves Arezue for Drusilla. Arezue meets Anyanka and Halfrek for the first time (see chapter 9 of Arezue; Desire, William the bloody).

1888: Arezue and Angelus are cursed with souls by the local gypsy clan (Romania). Darla kicks Angel out.

General Overview of the 1990's: Angel moves to New York. Lives there until he runs in Spike and Drusilla un 1924 (see chapter N/A of Arezue; Desire, William the bloody) then moves to Nova Scotia. Darla and Arezue rage over Italy from 1922 to 1938 with Penn.

1904: Boxer Rebellion. Spike bags his first slayer. No one but Darla realizes that Angel and Arezue have their souls (Arezue is not a bit remorseful, Angel is). Angel and Darla dispute; Angel leaves (check back for chapter info; China).

1920: The roaring twenties; Arezue and Spike break up. Drusilla and Spike become a couple (NYC).

1941: Darla moves to Nova Scotia to be with Angel. They drift apart in 1953; Darla is called to be with the master (Germany).

1941: Arezue and Spike get back together in Germany (where Spike gets captured by the government in 1943; Why We Fight) only to break up in 1972; days after Spike bags his second slayer (Nikki Wood) in Los Angeles, California (LA; see chapter 17 of Arezue; Desire).

1998: Spike and Drusilla move to Sunnydale and reunite with Angel who soon loses his soul. Arezue begins playing with Dracula in Transylvania.

2001: Dracula drops Arezue for Buffy. When his plan fails he returns to Arezue (Season 5 of Buffy, Dracula). Spike falls in love with Buffy, who dies later that year (California).

2002: late season four of Angel; Beginning season six of Buffy. This is when Arezue steps back in the picture (California).

More info to be added after current chapters are uploaded.


	23. Shots A very Dawnie XMAS

Arezue; Desire, William The Bloody

Shots: A Very Dawn Christmas

((Chapter Eighteen))

Dawn awoke slowly to the smell of cinnamon and pie, apple pie to be exact. Rubbing her eyes, she stumbled out of bed and down the staircase.

It had been a week since Kristine's birthday party. Since then, Christmas break had started and Dawn had no school for another week or so. And to top it all off, Christmas was today! The windows were hung with sparkling lights, the halls were decked with holly and – Dawn frowned – had she ever done up the Christmas tree like Buffy had asked her too?

'Who the fuck cares?'

Anyways, it wasn't like any of the above was the best part? No. The best part was that Angel and Connor were driving in from Los Angeles to join everyone else for Christmas; everyone being everyone!

With a squeal of excitement, Dawn bounced down the stairs.

"Oy nibs, sleep well?" Spike asked from his place on the couch. He and Xander sat on the couch, watching some equestrian movie about – Dawn blinked – was it just her or did that look a lot like porn? As to when exactly everyone had realized they didn't have to tip toe around her when it came to the sensual was beyond Dawn but she really wasn't complaining.

Arezue was sprawled on the rug with Anya, chatting away quietly about marriage and sex. When had Arezue become so quiet? Dawn wondered silently but didn't voice.

"Good morning, Dawnster." Xander greeted her. "Dream about that special someone last night?" Xander winked at her and Dawn flushed. Spike chuckled and Dawn rolled her eyes at him. As if the vibrator hadn't been embarrassing enough? But then again, everyone already knew that story.

"That's none of your business!" Dawn could guess that either Buffy or Spike had told Xander who she had a crush on. It was mortifying to know that Spike knew all about her little crush', and from what she had gathered, actually found the idea stimulating to say the least.

"Christmas sex is the best sex there is!" Anya chimed in as always with her two cents. "You should tell – er –" Anya paused, for once in her life seeming to understand that the who was something Dawn didn't want advertised. "- them, who it is, the truth, It'll be the best sex you've ever had." Xander choked on his eggnog and Spike thumped him on the back.

"Oh god! I just got a mental picture of Dawn and – oh! Dawn!" Xander shuddered and Dawn blushed furiously, hoping that maybe Anya's belief that Santa was a demon was true and that maybe he could crash through the fireplace any second now just so that she wouldn't have to have this conversation.

"Does everybody know about this?" She asked, grabbing Xander's glass of eggnog.

"I don't." Arezue piped up finally, sounding a tad bit bitter. She'd gotten even quieter lately and Dawn was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with her. "I happen to be your best friend and I've got no damn clue who the hell you're talking about." Dawn winced at the accusatory tone in Arezue's voice.

"Well, um, it's not that big of a deal." Arezue shrugged, a hurt look passing through her eyes but disappearing quickly. "I like your hat. Very Christmassy." Dawn tried to make up for lying but Arezue just shrugged again, looking uninterested in Dawn's attempt at flattery.

Arezue wore a sleeveless satin red dress with the cutest little green elf hat that Dawn had ever seen.

"Oh!" Suddenly Arezue brightened, pulling something out of her white coat. "I got you one too." She moved it around so that the tiny bell on top of it tinkled.

"Oh my god, I so love you!" Dawn squealed, then realized that she sounded like a little kid. "I mean, cool." She took it from Arezue, ignoring the knowing look that Spike was sending her way. She pulled it on, a sudden thought occurring to her.

"Please tell me you didn't get these where I think you got them." Arezue smirked coldly, looking like her old self again.

"Those little 'Santa's helpers' at the mall were really annoying," She shrugged. "I only did what I did to them because it had to be done, Dawnie." Spike chuckled.

"That's my girl." He moved to peck Arezue on the lips and Dawn frowned, not at all bothered by the sight of Spike and Arezue kissing. There was something really wrong with Arezue. She was so quiet, so distanced lately. And the fact that she was trying to worm away from Spike was another huge give away that something was drastically wrong with her.

"Dawn, is that you?" Buffy called from the kitchen, "We need help with the food in here!" Dawn grinned, grabbing Arezue's hand and pulling her to her feet.

"Come on, let's go see how many cookies we can eat without Buffy noticing." Dawn didn't notice Arezue flinch at the mention of Buffy as she pulled the vampire into the kitchen.

"Cookies?" Dawn heard Anya say as they left the living room. "Oh, I bet they eat cookies." Dawn blushed at Arezue's words and Arezue shot her an amused look.

"Will you two stop shooting each other those looks and check the oven to see if the cookies are done?" Buffy snapped and Dawn sighed, rolling her eyes.

The kitchen seemed to be a totally different universe then the living room. There was food everywhere, Willow and Tara were dressed in matching pinstriped aprons, there seemed to be an utter abundance of flour and sugar everywhere and, to top it all off, Buffy seemed to be freaking out.

"Arezue, you can cook, right?" Willow asked hastily and Arezue nodded. "Great, you get to make another dessert. Have fun." Willow looked surprised when Arezue didn't object. Dawn shook her head, signaling to Willow that it was best not to ask.

Dawn grabbed a few cookies from a previous batch and pressed one into Arezue's mouth.

"So, what are we gonna make?" Arezue swallowed the cookie, raising an eyebrow at her.

"We?" Dawn pouted.

"I can cook!" Arezue rolled her eyes, seemingly too amused to argue.

"Fine. How about blood pudding?" Dawn blanched and she amended. "Or just chocolate pudding?"

"Okay." Dawn beamed. "I get to lick the bowl!" Arezue smirked impishly, a light dancing in her eyes.

"That the only thing you want to lick?" Arezue grabbed the bowl and walked away, leaving Dawn to figure out exactly what she'd meant.

"Do you - er - want to sing - or something?" Angel asked Connor as the silence in the car became too much to bare. Connor frowned.

"What would we sing?" Angel shrugged, racking his brain for something appropriate.

"You know, Christmas carols?" He winced. The idea wasn't very appealing to him.

"What's Christmas?" Angel frowned.

"Didn't Cordy explain this to you?" Connor shrugged.

"She said something about how you'd dress up in a red suit and give out presents..." Connor frowned as Angel winced, apparently not pleased at the presented image. "I didn't really understand but I didn't tell her." He hesitated. "I like her a lot, dad." Angel smiled.

Of course Connor should like Cordelia. She was pretty much his mother. Which would imply...he couldn't help but smile at the image of himself and Cordelia...

"That's good." He said abruptly, forcing the thoughts he knew he shouldn't be having about Cordelia away. "Speaking of women you like, we're going to see Dawn in a couple of hours." Connor shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yeah. Dawn. Cool." Angel struggled to keep from laughing. The lovesick expression on Connor's face practically rebutted his bored reply. Angel grinned.

"Connor, how about I tell you the wonders of mistletoe?" Connor made a face.

"Gunn told me. Kissing is wrong." Angel frowned, that didn't sound right.

"Gunn told you kissing was wrong?"

"No. Holtz did." Angel clenched his teeth together, his grip on the steering wheel tightening.

"Holtz was an idiot who ruined your life. If you want to kiss Dawn, do it." Connor hesitated.

"So, what I feel – it isn't wrong?" Connor hesitated.

"No, it's perfectly normal." He smiled, something suddenly occurring to him. "Sex is wrong and immoral though. Don't do it." Connor frowned.

"What's sex?"

"Sin."

Tara walked down the stairs and into the living room carrying a big brown box labeled 'Tree Ornaments'. Dawn had gone immensely crazy with the Christmas decorations, hanging holly and mistletoe everywhere (Willow had even jokingly suggested that she just magick up some mistletoe to follow around the person she wanted to kiss). In her frenzy, Dawn had completely forgotten to decorate the tree.

"Ooo, tree ornaments!" Xander jumped up to take them from her. "I was starting to think the poor tree would be stark naked this year." Tara shook her head.

"No, it was Dawn's job and she forgot." Anya frowned.

"What kind of child forgets to decorate the Christmas tree?" Doesn't she want wonderful presents that can be exchanged for either cash or store credit?" Xander shrugged.

"And this money obsessed woman, ladies and gentlemen, is the woman I plan to marry." Tara smiled.

"I'm sure you'll both be very happy together." Anya and Xander had finally spilled the beans about their engagement and Tara personally thought it was great. If only California would okay gay marriage…

"When do we get to open presents?" Dawn asked, jumping up to sit on the counter as she watched Arezue beat the chocolate milk into the eggs.

"After dinner." Willow answered her, watching Arezue out of the corners of her eyes. She didn't want Arezue slipping in some sort of poison in when no one was watching. Arezue frowned over at Dawn.

"Aren't you supposed to be helping me?" Dawn grinned.

"I am. I'm your inspiration." Arezue raised an eyebrow at her and Dawn bent over so that her mouth was level with Arezue's ear.

"I'm going to lick the bowl nice and clean when you're all done, remember?" She jumped off the counter and walked away, leaving Arezue to muse over the image.

"Oh my god! They're here!" Dawn squealed as the doorbell rang, running to answer the door. Arezue followed her, bowl and whisker in hand. She truly had no desire to see her father again, but then again, it wasn't as if she had any say in what went on in Sunnydale. She watched as Dawn threw open the door and practically jumped Angel.

"Somebody's gotten taller." Angel laughed and Dawn beamed.

"One day you'll have to look up to talk to me." Dawn told Angel and Arezue realized with a pang that Dawn had more of Angel's love that she could ever hope for. Angel seemed to finally notice her and Arezue straightened up, forcing her features to harden.

"Angelus."

"Arezue." Their voices were perfectly even as they acknowledged each other.

"Connor came!" Dawn suddenly shrieked, hugging an embarrassed Connor. Angel shrugged.

"Tried locking him in the truck he somehow managed to get out." His dry humor went as unnoticed as Arezue as Connor and Dawn stared into each others' eyes, seemingly lost in their own little world as Dawn pointed out the mistletoe above the door and Connor turned ten shades of red.

"Later?" Connor managed to squeak out and Dawn grinned happily. Arezue's eyes narrowed on Connor, first her mother and then her best friend?

"Arezue." Connor smiled hesitantly at her, their last encounter fresh in his mind. "I bought you a present." He held a box up and Arezue beamed, any bad will towards him now gone.

"Mine!" She snatched it from him, pushing the bowl and egg whiskers into Angel's hands, but was stopped from ripping it open by Dawn pulling it away.

"Presents go under the tree." She scolded and Arezue pouted.

"But – "

"No."

"I'll love you forever and ever and ever and…"

"No."

"Dawnie – "

"Nope."

"Please?"

"No."

"Fine!" Arezue snapped. "See if I care!" Arezue huffed, stomping away. Angel blinked.

"She actually listens to you?" Dawn grinned.

"Yep, but just me." She pondered the thought for a moment. "Because I have something she wants." Anya brightened considerably from her post on the rug.

"Yes. It's se-"

"Boots!" Dawn blurted out, eyes widening at Anya's inclination to blurt out anything she wished. "I have these really sexy boots that she wants." Angel seemed to accept this answer so Dawn took his coat, smiling her adorable 'I'm your innocent eight year old who has no idea where babies come from' smile.

"There's no snow at all in LA." Connor remarked to Dawn and Dawn smiled, taking his hand and leading him outside, making sure to close the door behind them.

There was something she wanted from Connor.

Arezue leaned against the counter, watching as Buffy set the table. She and Buffy were the only two in the kitchen and Arezue couldn't help the pangs of jealousy and nervousness that rang through her. What on earth did you say to your husband's mistress?

"Um, thanks for helping with everything." Buffy said softly and Arezue flashed her a cold look, anger coursing through her.

"You're not going to admit it, are you?" Buffy gaped at her and Arezue could practically read the thoughts rushing through her mind: _Does she know?_

"A-admit what?" Arezue just shook her head, avoiding Buffy's eyes.

"It's nothing." She quickly changed the subject. "Is there anything you'd like me to do?" Buffy visibly swallowed, her suspicions obviously confirmed by Arezue's quick subject change.

"Yeah, um," Buffy avoided her eyes and Arezue did the same, looking everywhere but at the woman she currently wanted to strangle. "Wanna help ice the cake? We get to eat any of the excess icing."

"Sure." Arezue took the icing bowl from Buffy and nodded to the freezer to indicate that the cake needed to be thawed out a bit first.

"So," Buffy started uncomfortably as Arezue licked at the icing spoon, pulling the cake out and setting it on the table. "Bet you never thought you'd be making a cake in the slayer's kitchen, huh?"

_No, never thought I'd be making a cake in my marriage wrecker's kitchen._

As Arezue began to ice the cake, Buffy rubbed her temples. She had done something absolutely horrible – and the vampire was'n even trying to kill her because ofit - she was almost being _nice_. What was wrong with her? Had she come back from heaven wrong?

"You know," Dawn muttered to Connor as they sat on the porch, staring up at the night sky. "It never used to snow in Sunnydale. Then in ninety-eight, it just happened; like a miracle." Connor nodded slowly, mesmerized by her

"Like a miracle…"

"Yeah." Dawn smiled. "So, don't you owe me a kiss?" Hesitantly, the two leaned towards each other. As their lips touched, it was like a spark had been lighted. It was the epitome of perfection for Connor; there were just no words for it.

To Dawn, the spark was faint. The kiss was sweet and soft and all the wonderful things a first kiss was supposed to be like; yet, there was something wrong, like it just wasn't the right time.

Like –_ I'm in love with…_

"Wow…" Connor finally managed to say and Dawn smiled sadly.

"Yeah." She reached out to stroke his cheek. "I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you, Connor…" Dawn whispered to him. _Just not now._

"That sounds nice –"

"Oh, hey," Dawn cut him off quickly, reaching out to touch his arm before he could fully absorb her words. "Could I have a few moments alone, please?" A look of disappointment crossed Connor's face but he nodded anyways.

"Of course." He left and Dawn stared up at the sky, connecting the starts distractedly.

_Things are changing,_ Dawn pondered sadly. _I know the one person I love can never truly love me back, but does that mean I'm ready to love the one who loves me? _

Watching the starts twinkle, she made her choice. _Somebody's bound to get their heart broken in the end, probably me – but it'll be worth it._ She stood up and opened the door, things finally resolved.

"Nibblet!" Spike shouted angrily as she walked in. "You went out without a bloody coat? What the hell's wrong with you?" He grabbed her roughly, grabbing Arezue's coat from the rack and wrapping it around her.

"Ooops?"

"Your bloody nose is fuckin' blue." Spike scolded and Dawn nodded distractedly, angling her head so that she were looking straight into Connor's eyes.

"…gonna catch pneumonia and end up six feet in the bloody ground, you are. Not wearin' a damn coat…" Connor stared questioningly at her and Dawn smiled comfortingly at him to show reassure him that everything would be okay.

I'm sorry

"Nibblet?" Spike was staring worriedly at her. "You alright, love? Zoned me out there." Dawn nodded obediently and Spike sighed, kissing her forehead. "Don't know what it is with you and the ice queen lately. So bloody quiet all the time." He gently pushed her towards the kitchen.

"Go pocket me something sweet, platelet." Dawn nodded, walking away. A single thought ran through her head, _how can I do this to Spike? Won't it hurt him?_

"Present time!" Willow announced happily as everybody finished up dinner.

"Yay!" Dawn squealed. "Me first!" She jumped up from the table and ran off to the living room.

"Hey –" Anya protested, following Dawn. "Nobody said we were calling dibs already."

"Great." Buffy sighed, "How about – " She glanced around the table. "Willow – and I get dessert?" She figured it would give her time to figure out whether the brunette knew the truth or not.

Everyone quickly agreed, hurrying out. Angel lagged behind.

"Buffy – "

"In the living room, Angel." Buffy said coolly, avoiding his gaze. She knew why he exactly why he wanted to talk to her so badly and she wasn't looking forward to that particular conversation. He could smell Spike all over her, she knew. "I'm busy." She hissed, ignoring the pain that ripped through her at the site of the hurt look on Angel's face.

"Move over." Arezue hissed, settling down on the rug, sandwiched between Angel and Dawn. They all watched as Willow unwrapped a present. Much to Dawn's chagrin, Tara had decided that in order to be fair to everyone, would be to draw numbers – Willow had gotten the 'one'.

"Are you – " Angel hesitated, staring at her uncomfortably. "Okay?" Arezue's eyes misted up a bit and she looked away.

"You can smell it on them too?" She asked quietly as Willow exclaimed over a new blue sweater. Angel nodded and she felt her heart sink.

"Can I move in with you?" The question was absolutely spurious and they both knew the answer already. Angel sighed, slowly sliding an arm around her shoulders.

"You can't just run away from your problems, Char." Arezue scowled, her anger flaring as she pushed him off of her.

"Fuck off!" Angel sighed once more, holding out his slip of paper. He had number two while she had seven.

"Do you want to switch?" Arezue frowned.

"Seven's a lucky number..." She pressed the seven into his hand. "Whatever, luck or not -I always manage to screw up." Angel answered her bitter reply with a slight smile.

"And I'd fix it, princess." Arezue shook her head at him, seemingly thinking.

"Not this time." She said quietly and Angel stared at her, suddenly feeling a familiar sense of dread wash over him as he realized she was reciting the future. "Even you can't save me this time, daddy." She took the two from him and switched numbers with Dawn.

The truth was, she had no idea how to do things on her own. Everyone else had always taken care of her. Yet, as she watched Dawn manage to do so much without help, she wanted to try and do the same now.

"Thanks." Dawn smiled at her, lacing her fingers through Arezue's. Arezue smiled slowly.

Maybe Dawn could help her. Dawn was her best friend, so maybe…

"As great as presents are and all," Dawn whispered as Willow moved on to opened Angel's present. "This could take a while, do you want to – "

"Sure." Arezue and Dawn slipped out of the room and out the door unnoticed.

"Snow's all pretty." Arezue mused and Dawn raised an eyebrow at her.

"Let me get this straight." Dawn said slowly. "You try to convince me to sleep with you the entire time you've known me – but when we're all alone and I'm sending out signals like crazy – you want to talk about snow?" Arezue shrugged.

"I've spent my entire existence having sex with people. It's meaningless t o me at this point." She paused. "Do you want to?" Dawn laughed.

"I'm, like, only fifteen – and your best friend. So, not ready for sex." She reached into her pocket. "But I do have mistletoe." Arezue's blinked, obviously confused.

"Does this mean – "

"Just shut up and kiss me." Arezue moved in but Dawn stopped her. "But first, promise me that we'll always be friends – even if we break up or something." Arezue swallowed.

"Always? You mean you don't just want to have sex with me?" Dawn smiled.

"Pretty much." Arezue's eyes filled with tears.

"Never had a friend before." Dawn nodded, smiling at her.

"That's why I'm here, silly. To make sure you have at least one person who loves you unconditionally." Arezue smiled sadly.

"Thank you." Dawn sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Stop talking and thank me with your lips." Arezue giggled.

"Okay." And their lips met. It was nothing like their first kiss. It was much better; and at least Arezue was paying attention this time.

--NN— Dec 25, 1756 New Wark, England

"Charlotte Jane, sweetheart." Darla nudged Arezue awake.

"Mother?" Arezue murmured sleepily and Darla sighed.

"Yes, it's your mother. Would you prefer to open presents today or wait until next year?" Arezue groaned, sitting up and looking around.

"Why am in the –"

"Fell asleep here last night, lass." Angelus answered from his place on the sofa. "Too much excitement for a child, I say." Darla threw him an annoyed look.

"Who's the mother here, Angelus?" Angelus scowled.

"She was up half the night, nattering on about that ridiculous tea set you promised her." Arezue rubbed her eyes, trying to block out the argument. "And, Darla, we're vampires. We don' celebrate –"

"I wanna open presents!" Arezue screeched and both of her parents fell silent. Darla rushed to her side.

"Is something wrong, darling?" Arezue frowned.

"I think that warlock I ate last night cursed me. Said I'd see death and misfortune everywhere…" She rubbed her forehead. "Bad nightmares, mummy. Bad…" Darla and Angelus exchanged worried looks. Angelus strode over to her.

"What is it, lass?"

"A key, a watching man, a baby with blue eyes," Arezue tilted her head to the side, thinking. "And a man named William."

"That's nothin' new." Angelus grumbled under his breath. A man named William seemed to be in every dream Charlotte Jane had.

"Well," Darla forced a smile onto her lips. "Why don't we start opening presents now? Some special little girl has two dozen presents." Arezue's eyes widened.

"Presents!" She pushed past both her sires to get to the tree faster.

"You're spoiling her." Angelus snapped and Darla raised an eyebrow at him.

"Only half the presents were bought by me. The other half, however, were –"

"Were bought due to your nagging." Angelus snapped and Dawn clenched her jaw.

"Arezue, darling," Darla turned to the childe currently counting presents and trying to figure out what came after seven. "Your mother and father have a social –"

"I'd hardly call the master's court a social."

"Quiet Angelus!" She turned back to Arezue. "And the nurse will take care of you in our absence." Arezue frowned.

"But what of the presents, mummy?" Darla laughed.

"Sweetheart, you and Arietta will have tons of fun opening them together." She buttoned up her coat.

"Arietta!" Angelus bellowed for the vampire nurse who immediately came scuttling in at his voice.

"Yes, master?" Angelus ignored Arezue who'd begun to cry loudly.

"The mistress and I will be leaving for a social. Charlotte Jane will need help opening her presents."

"And be sure to clean her up afterwards for the party tonight." Darla said coldly, not even bothering to glance in the nurse's direction.

"Mummy!"

"We have to leave, dear." Darla's voice told her clearly that protesting would get her a thrashing and nothing else.

"Papa!"

"You heard your mum, Char." Angelus replied, kissing her goodbye.

As they walked out, Arezue turned to Arietta.

"Opening gifts by yourself is a bore." Arietta sighed.

"But, miss, I – "

"You're not my mother!" Arezue snapped and Arietta sighed.

"I'm your nurse, dear." Arezue wrinkled her nose, grabbing a present.

"I'm not an infant. Or some toddler that needs – aagh!" Arezue shrieked, bursting into tears, eyes widening with fear.

"If anything happened to the fledgling master Angelus would make sure she burned come sunrise.

"What is it, childe?" Arezue sniffled, holding out her index finger where blood was forming.

"The paper bit me!" She whined pathetically and Arietta couldn't resist laughing, drawing the little vampire into her arms.

"You are quite something else, Miss. Arezue." Arezue huffed.

"Of course, I am. My mother and father are – "

"- the master's right hands. I know, dear." Arezue frowned, put out by the dismissal.

"Will you open presents with me?" Arietta nodded.

"It's my job, miss." Arezue nodded sadly. Of course, why would anybody spend time with her unless it was their job?

Angel watched from the window with a sinking heart as Dawn and Arezue kissed. He'd been elected to find the two.

"They out there?" Buffy asked and Angel nodded listlessly.

"Yeah." He stepped away from the window. "They'll probably be in soon." Xander shrugged.

"Okay, who wants more cake?" Connor took some and Angel turned to him, making the resolution to focus more on the one kid he had a chance of actually knowing.

"You'll get a stomach-ace." Angel reprimanded him but let him eat the cake anyways. Arezue didn't want him in her life so he'd make do with Connor.

Arezue always ended up coming to him for help in the end anyways. After all, she'd said so herself.

((I always manage to screw up))


	24. Road Trip

Thanks to Lonnie for her wonderful betaing.

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Arezue; Desire, William the Bloody

Chapter One: Road Trips

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"So, you guys have everything, right?" Fred asked, looking over at the Desoto. Arezue shrugged, focusing more on the blue Popsicle in her hands then anything else; she was trying to figure out if it would cause her undead tongue to turn blue. "All set for your honeymoon in – " The brunette frowned, trying to remember the place. "Sunnydale, right?"

"Yeah." Spike answered the physicist's question, glancing around awkwardly. Angel, Fred, Cordelia, and Connor stood out in the dusk with them; Gunn had deemed himself too much of a man for 'sappy goodbyes' and Wesley had just disappeared without notice.

"That's – uh – good." Angel smiled painfully, looking as if he'd rather be somewhere else. "Everything's good…" He took a step towards Arezue and held out his arms, as if to hug her. She scowled and moved away, causing him to drop his arms with a wince. "Everything's not so good." Cordelia rolled her eyes, mouthing the word 'idiot' to him.

"So, Spike," She smiled sweetly. "This whole chip thing – does it mean you're not so evil anymore?" Spike glared at her, obviously upset by her words.

"No! I'm evil – I'm very – "

"What chip?" Arezue broke in, glaring accusingly at Spike. "There's a chip? What kind of chip? Girl like chip or potato like – "

"Aren't you givin' me the bloody silent treatment?" Spike broke in and she scowled at him. She opened her mouth to go on but he broke in again. "No need to stop now, love – 'm enjoyin' it too much." Arezue's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Fine!" She turned away from him with a huff. "Is my tongue blue yet?" She stuck it out at Connor and he scrutinized for a moment, then shook his head. Cursing under her breath, she shoved the now empty Popsicle into his hands.

"Make me a birdhouse for Christmas." She smiled thinly, her eyes icy cold. "I happen to like birds." Connor gave her a sickened look, taking the stick from her. Fred grinned.

"Me too!" She nodded enthusiastically. "They're so pretty, specially the perkin – " Arezue raised an eyebrow at her and she broke off, a look of realization crossing her face. "Oh."

"Right." Cordelia cut off the impending lecture that Fred would likely give – a lecture on the rights of birds or something along those lines. "You said you have everything." Spike shrugged to say he hadn't brought anything and Arezue held up her purse in reply. She couldn't help saying scathingly to Arezue, "Gee, Angel's a packhorse – kinda figured you would be too." Ignoring the shout of indignation from Angel, she went on sweetly.

"Anyways, you're all set and we have jobs. See you soon." To say that she didn't like Arezue would be an understatement. Not only was the brunette ignoring her avidly but she seemed to have some sort of hold over Connor…

Speaking of Connor – her eyes rotated back to him. He seemed to be chatting away with Arezue, smiling over something she'd said.

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"Gee, Angel's a packhorse – kinda figured you would be too." Cordelia said.

"Hey!" Angel gasped in indignation and Arezue rolled her eyes at the Queen C as she went on. She didn't know why but she couldn't help but not like the preppy woman. Sometimes, when no one was watching, she'd seen Cordelia look at Connor like one would look at a banquet. Hungrily, like she wanted something from him.

Like she wanted to _eat_ him.

Realizing that she could easily piss off the other woman, Arezue pulled Connor over so that her lips were parallel to his ear.

"Can I tell you something?" She whispered and he nodded. She played with the idea of telling him something really embarrassing along the lines of sex, just so that Cordelia would see his blush and be annoyed… "You're the only person here I actually like as a friend." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Internally berating herself for such a useless display of affection, she steeled herself for Connor's rejection.

Instead, he surprised her. "Really?" He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. "I like you too." Arezue couldn't stop her eyes from tearing up just a little. She'd forgotten what it felt like to be loved…

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"We'll send the wedding presents through mail." Angel said stiffly to Spike.

"Fine." The blonde replied just as stiffly, turning to Arezue.

"Char, we're leaving." She started to turn back to Connor and he gave her a look, nodding to the car. "Now." She huffed, rolling her eyes and stomping to the car. She pulled the door open and started to slide in when a voice stopped her.

"Hey, hey! Wait up!" Lorne ran out of the Hyperion and towards them, holding something in his arms. Reaching them, he hunched over, struggling to breathe. "Guess I'll need to lay off all those midnight snacks." Now that he was closer, everyone could see he was holding some sort of statue.

"Here doll, wedding present from me." He held it out to the brunette vampire and she made a face, wrinkling her nose.

"It's looks dusty." Lorne sighed, handing it over to Spike who didn't seem to want it either.

"It's a fertility goddess." Everyone stared at him and he went on. "Helps people have – " He broke off. "Just smile and accept it kids." Angel rolled his eyes.

"Lorne, vampires can't have children." Lorne turned to him, looking amused.

"This coming from the undead guy who's had one.." Angel opened his mouth to reply but Spike cut him off.

"Which is why the brat's known as the 'miracle child' – 'cuz there's only one." Lorne looked ready to argue with that particular brand of logic, but Spike cut in once again. "As great as this is, we gotta jet." He turned to Connor. "Piece of advice kid, ever burn down the house – run like hell and don't look back. Angelus isn't the most forgiving bastard" Angel's mouth fell open.

"Don't tell him things like that!" Connor rolled his eyes.

"Chill, dad." The Arezue-like reply made Angel scowl. To think Arezue and Connor would be a big influence on Connor was absolutely frightening.

"For your information, Spike," Angel snapped through clenched teeth. "When someone burns down your house – with you in it – you don't just say 'it's okay' and get over it!" Spike rolled his eyes, looking ready to argue.

"Yeah, well –"

"Oh, shut up." Arezue snapped at them. "Angelus, we're leaving. William," she turned to Spike. "Move it." Spike smirked and Arezue went on. "And I'm still ignoring you so shut up." Spike rolled his eyes, sliding into the car as she did the same. As Spike started the car and everyone said their final goodbyes, Arezue and Spike made it a point to ignore each other.

Things were still not all right between the two. Although neither of them had expected their issues to be resolved after only two days together, neither had expected to be sleeping in separate bedrooms either.

As Spike realized that living together would mean sharing a bed once again, he couldn't help muttering a few curses under his breath, causing Arezue to glare at him. He offered her a tight smile and she turned away.

"I hate this rusty car." She muttered loud enough for him to hear and he clenched his teeth shut, knuckles turning white on the steering wheel as he struggled to keep from snapping at her.

'Two soddin' hours alone with the Ice Queen till Sunnyhell,' He mused drily as the uncertain future loomed ahead. 'Oh joy…'

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	25. Chapter 25

Thank you to Lonnie for betaing.

Arezue; Desire, William the Bloody

Chapter Two

There was utter silence in the car as they drove on. Spike's teeth clenched and unclenched as he watched Arezue fidget as she fingered an empty carton of cigarettes. He could tell she was going through nicotine withdrawals but was much too proud to breakdown and ask him for one.

Arezue'd always been like this, he reflected. Proud, arrogant, always pretending to be better than she actually was. For some reason, he couldn't really remember why he'd fallen in love with someone so… _fucked up_. She had so many faults…

But he did truly love her. Whether or not she still loved him, he knew he could never stop loving her.

He'd missed her; he had to admit to himself. Sure, he was still angry about what she'd done all those years ago, but he'd missed her.

_Love's bloody bitch_, he thought morosely, taking a left at the exit. _That's me_.

"Why are we stopping?" Arezue demanded as he pulled into a diner. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her, noting that Dawn had obviously started to rub off on him.

_So's you can buy your damned fags, you nit. _Instead of voicing his inner thoughts he nodded to the gas station next to the diner. "Need more gas." Arezue raised an eyebrow at him.

"And we're stopping at this grungy diner because…"

"Cause 'm cravin' some chips, al'right?" He couldn't keep the anger out of his voice as he pushed the door open and climbed out, slamming the door shut behind him.

He understood that she wasn't particularly happy at being forced into marriage with him, but he honestly couldn't see why she was acting so bitchy.

'_Cuz she doesn't want to be with you anymore, ya' bloody nonce_, the thought flashed through his head and his hands curled into fists.

The truth always hurt.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Arezue scowled, tapping her fingernails against the wooden table as they waited to be served. She glanced at her – _husband_, a voice whispered and she pushed it away, giving him a forced smile.

"Service is slow here, huh?" She commented, trying to break the ice. They did have to spend the rest of eternity together, she told herself. It wouldn't hurt to at least talk once in a while.

Chuckling, Spike leaned in, motioning her forward. "Think the waitress and cook are gettin' it on behind the counter." Arezue giggled.

"You really think so? She's not all that pretty and - " She broke off as her eyes landed on the table, brows furrowing in confusion. While they'd been speaking, Spike had shredded his napkin to form a name. _B…U…F…_

"Buffy?" Spike's eyes widened at the realization that he'd frayed his napkin into Her name. Rumpling the scraps into a ball, he struggled to regain control of his emotions. "It's not – she's not –" He stumbled over his words, words constricting in his throat.

Arezue cut him off, "Who the _hell_ is she, William?" Anger swelled across her face and Spike opened his mouth to tell her it was nothing. However, she swiftly crushed his reply once again, "And don't you dare lie to me."

Spike's eyes narrowed in defiance; he'd tried to be nice and help her out but the truth was that he was fed up with Arezue's attitude towards him. She acted as if she were absolutely repulsed by the idea of being with him; however, as soon as another girl was mentioned, she became nonsensically jealous. He opened his mouth to tell her off, but reason prevailed; he had no inclination to deal with an Arezue at all at the moment.

Standing up, he gave her an indifferent shrug, "Just some dead bitch." He stood up, deftly ignoring the pain that radiated through his unbeating heart as the words left his mouth and took form.

_You bastard…_ A voice whispered in his mind and it was all he could do to keep from flying at Arezue and wiping the smug look of satisfaction off of her face. _You're a monster…so disgusting that even **Arezue** hates you; the woman who was supposed to love you forever._

Unable to take it anymore, Spike turned and fled the diner so as to take refuge in the car.

Buffy was dead, he was moving on – and it was scaring the hell out of him.


End file.
